Noir
by indytiff
Summary: Sometimes things happen you can't explain and you don't understand. Bella left her small town just wanting to get away from it all. Edward joined the DEA to catch drug dealers. Neither knew what the universe had in store for them.
1. Prologue

A/N: So this is one of the stories I've been playing around with for a while now and I've deicded it's time to write it out. I don't have it pre-written so a posting schedule is unlikely, but I will post as often as I can. This is all that I can promise.

Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author, Stephanie Meyer. The author is in no way associated with this piece of work. No copyright infringement intended.

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><p><strong>Prologue <strong>

The situation we found ourselves in was not part of our plan. Truth be told, nothing in the past six months had been part of our plan. I guess we never really had a plan from the beginning. When I met them, our only goal was to leave our lives behind. And that was exactly what we did. We had been having fun and loving where we were, but then things changed. Everything changed. In a matter of just a few seconds, our lives went from uncomplicated to unbelievably complicated and dangerous.

How had we gotten ourselves into such a mess?

How in the hell did we manage to get ourselves bound and gagged in a dark windowless room?

And most importantly how in the fucking hell were we going to get out of it?

Sitting there on the cold concrete floor, all I could see was the eyes of my two best friends; and even though we couldn't talk, I knew exactly what they were thinking and feeling.

Without any way to tell time, we had no idea how long the Denali gang had been gone or how long we had until their return.

I knew the odds were against us but I had to try and keep hope. I had to keep reminding myself that the three responsible for putting us in the path of the Denali gang were professionals and good at their jobs. I had to keep my faith in them…in _him._ I knew he wouldn't leave me there. I just knew he would come for us. It just had to be before it was too late and before the Denalis returned to clean up after themselves.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The clock on the wall of the diner seemed to be moving slower than normal and if someone would have asked me, I would have sworn on my flakey mother's life it had read 1:00 in the afternoon for the past three hours. It was like I could actually see the second hand moving backwards.

Each tick was an echo in my ears; mocking me, laughing in my face.

"Stupid fucking clock." I sighed then returned to my task at hand – clearing off the corner booth. The assholes that had just left had left a complete mess and a lousy dollar for a tip.

I was used to it though; the assholes and lousy tips that is. Working at the only diner in a small town that sat on a major highway in the middle of logging country was bound to bring in questionable trucker traffic. Not all were bad, but unfortunately it seemed that more often than not, I was swatting their hands off my ass and turning down crude invites.

They weren't my only headache though.

The locals would come in, eat quietly, leave nice tips, shoot disapproving looks to the rude patrons, and then always shoot me a pity filled glance before leaving.

In a way dealing with the truckers was easier than the pity looks I received.

When you live in a town of only about 3,000 people, your private family affairs are everyone's affairs and town gossip. In my case none of it was accurate.

If you asked the woman who worked the register at the local market, my mother cheated on my father with his best friend and then left him broken hearted and insane.

If you asked the local realtor who actually sold my childhood home, my father killed my mother, buried her in the woods, and then skipped town.

The truth was actually that my parents were never meant to be together. My mother got pregnant fresh out of high school. My father married her because it was the "right thing to do." But neither truly loved the other. My father hated his job and my mother was miserable in that small ass town.

When I was 17 and at the end of my junior year in high school, my parents sat me down and told me that they were divorcing. They told me it was pointless to pretend any longer. I was old enough to handle the separation without incident and they both wanted to be happy again. I understood then and still do.

My mother, Renee, left in the middle of the night to avoid stares and headed towards Florida. She said she needed to find who she really was and what truly made her happy. I supported her with everything. I loved my mother with every fiber of my being; this included all her quirks and faults. She was the reason I had my free spirit. She was the reason I was leaving that hell hole of a town.

There was nothing in Forks, Washington except the diner, the gas station, the gossip, and a shit ton of dead ends. I wanted none of it.

After my mother left, my father, Charlie, went to a friend's house down at the Quileute Reservation for celebratory beer – or 12. He called me as I was getting out of bed for school the next day to let me know he was okay and that he had a shift but would be home when I got home from school. And that was pretty much how we spent the following 12 months.

After I graduated high school a year after my parents split, my father retired early from the police force and moved to some remote town in Alaska to fish, hunt, and drive an ice-road truck during the coldest months of the winter.

He was finally doing what he wanted to do with his life, and I supported him just like I supported my mother on her journey of self-discovery. Supporting him though didn't mean I didn't think he was slightly insane for his choice of location and that it was either some sort of mid-life crisis or too much Discovery TV, but the evident happiness on his face as he pulled away from my home of 18 years made me realize it didn't matter why he was doing it. He was happy.

"Order's up Bells!" Paul yelled from the kitchen as he set two plates in the pickup window.

"Is it 2 o'clock yet?" I sighed to anyone within ear shot as I picked up table four's order.

"You've got an hour left, doll." Angela laughed at me while counting tips. "You that anxious to get outta here?"

I turned to my only friend in the town and knew that she would be the only person I was going to miss after leaving. Angela Weber and I were total opposites but somehow managed to make a friendship work. She was the girl that was involved with everything. She was in the Spanish Club, the Math Club, the Debate Club, she was our class President. She was on the yearbook staff. She didn't define herself with a click though. She was everyone's friend.

The only person I actually wanted to be my friend; the only 'tell you to your face' person in Forks. I was an "outsider" by choice. I hated everyone in that damn school, except her. They were all below me and my aspirations. They all were going to be stuck in that town until they died. I had originally tried to ignore Angie, but she's a very persistent little thing.

"Angie, if I coulda left a month ago, I would have." I smiled as I tied my long mahogany hair back out of my face yet again.

"Yeah I know. Just wish ya weren't going." She sniffed as she began to tear up.

"Now don't go and start that shit. I don't do tears."

Angela was the only person I knew aside from my parents who understood my need to leave and if she hadn't fallen in love she probably would have left too. But her life was Ben and he wasn't going anywhere so that meant Angie stayed too.

When the world's longest hour was finally up and my shift was over, I said my goodbyes to Angela and Paul, our very flamboyant chef, before making a mad dash for my truck. Since the house had sold, everything I owned was already in the bed of the truck so my only stop was to hit the gas station on my way out of town to top off the gas tank and get supplies for a road trip.

Aside from hitting the gas station the only other decision I had made was to head east. After getting the gas and provisions which included soda, snacks, and lottery tickets, I jumped back into my truck ready to start my journey.

But the universe had another plan for me.

"You've got to be fucking shitting me!" I growled when my truck wouldn't turnover. Not even like it was trying. Nothing. "Stupid son-of-a-bitch!" I continued to yell as I got out and slammed the driver's side door. "Mother fucking cock sucking cu…"

The clearing of a throat and tinkling laughter interrupted my vulgar ranting.

"Trouble?" A tall blonde asked with a smirk firmly in place.

"Yeah, stupid ass piece of shit truck just decided at the worst possible time to quit. Couldn't have done it a week ago, oh no, had to wait until I was on my way out of this God forsaken town. Just my fucking luck!" I growled then sighed apologetically. "Sorry…I don't know you from Eve and here I am cussing up a fucking…damn it…it's a habit of mine. I'd like to tell you that not everyone in this town is like this but if you're staying long then you need to know…"

I was rambling incessantly to the total strangers and would have continued except one of them finally interrupted me.

"Oh we're just passing through." The short one with long black hair laughed. "Just needed gas. Not our kind of place to hang our hats at."

"Jake inside can help with that, gotta prepay here. Oh and hey, while you're in there, tell him the pile of junk his dad sold me finally broke and I'm gonna need him to fix it. Today." I smiled before popping the hood to take a look.

While the two strangers were inside and I was pretending to know what to look for under the hood, I noticed their ride; a brand new Range Rover with Arizona plates.

My curiosity was instantly peeked to say the least. I mean why were two females who looked no older than me, gorgeous to boot, in Forks of all places? All kinds of stories and possibilities went through my mind. All of which made me realize the gossip bug had finally bitten me and it was a good thing I was leaving the town.

"Bella…I can't fix The Beast today. I'm the only one here." Jake interrupted my thoughts after he and the two strangers had rejoined me outside next to my piece of shit truck.

"Damn-it Jake! I'm leaving today; well I was supposed to be leaving today."

"Where ya headed?" The blonde asked.

"East." Was all I replied.

"Where specifically?" She inquired again this time raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow in my direction.

"Anywhere but here." I laughed and then watched as the two strangers exchanged meaningful looks. After a few seconds the blonde shrugged her shoulders and looked back to me.

"Bella, right?" The short one asked and I nodded. "Well, I'm Alice Brandon and this is Rosalie Hale. We're from Phoenix and on our way…anywhere really. Just graduated high school and needed to explore. Needed to be just us for a while. So we decided to road trip it. We have space and the same agenda as you…your truck seems to be useless currently…would you like to join us?"

"That's a really bad idea Bella." Jake said eyeing the two seemingly innocent females.

"We're not psychos." Rosalie laughed.

"I seriously doubt they're killers Jake." I laughed but my conscience was cautiously warning me that hitching a ride with two complete strangers might not be the best idea I'd ever had.

But I was in desperate need to get out of Forks. So desperate that I agreed to join the two. We moved all of my stuff to their SUV, I left my truck with Jake and we hit the road. Going east.

"So Bella tell us about yourself." Alice said as she played with the radio.

And while we drove cross country, I got to know the two girls I would eventually begin calling my sisters.

Mary Alice Brandon was born to very wealthy parents and raised just outside of Phoenix in a small suburb. Michelle and Graham Brandon cared more about their social standing than their daughter. Alice was a self-proclaimed fashionista, while Rosalie referred to her more as a clothes Nazi. Alice stood only five feet tall and would probably pass as a child except for her sophisticated facial features and feminine curves. I had never known anyone with grey eyes, but Alice sure possessed them. They went well with her long black hair, red pouty lips, and tanned skin. It came as no surprise to me when she told me that she barely graduated high school due to always getting in trouble. The small tattoo behind her left ear and one on the inside of her right wrist had told me she enjoyed having a good time and wasn't necessarily a church going book studying woman.

What did surprise me was that she attributed graduating only to finding Rosalie and becoming friends.

Rosalie Lillian Hale was, as Alice described, from the wrong side of the tracks. Apparently that meant something different to Alice than to me. In Alice's mind it apparently meant that Rosalie's family wasn't generationally wealthy. Her father, Andrew, had come into money, although Rose neglected to mention how, during her junior year of high school and moved the family into Alice's neighborhood.

Rose, even without money, would have looked like she belonged with it. She oozed elegance and grace with her statuesque body and perfect hourglass shape. Her naturally blonde hair fell in waves down her back and her impossibly blue eyes were pools of secrets and sensuality. She was the epitome of sex appeal rolled into a five foot-ten inch tanned and toned body.

The two girls were fast friends and realized how much they both longed to get out from under their parents' rule. This shared ideal led them to leave their swanky homes after graduation. Since they were 18 and had gained control of their trust funds at graduation, they pulled the money from them and closed their bank accounts. They even got burn phones so they couldn't be tracked by their parents, who promised to find them and drag them back to Phoenix.

When I first joined them on their trip, I felt like an outsider. I mean there I was not a dime to my name and nothing except what was in my three boxes and tiny bank account to call my own. I could barely help out with the food and gas when we stopped on our way east.

I had nothing to contribute to the conversations about the parties and social events they attended. Hell I didn't even have input when they started talking fashion.

Alice of course was having none of that and proceeded to give me a crash course in fashion and who I should and shouldn't wear and what would help show off my body, which she claimed I was hiding.

It was not that I didn't know what I looked like, because I definitely knew what I was working with and I knew I looked better than the majority of the other females in Forks. It was just that I really didn't care about fashion. I wore my jeans tight and low, usually with holes, and tight t-shirts, usually short and low cut to show off the girls. My hair was usually straight and down, sometimes back in a messy ponytail. No makeup except I always wore eyeliner to highlight my otherwise boring brown eyes.

I had it and I liked to flaunt it occasionally. Just not as often as Alice and Rose seemed to think I should have. I had no one to impress in Forks but I certainly did after leaving, so I listened to my fashion gurus and let them make me over as we traveled the nation.

We drove east until we reached New York City. Being on absolutely no timeline, we decided to stay there for a while. We rented an apartment, using cash only to stay off the grid from their parents and then went job searching. Alice and Rose didn't need jobs, but I sure as shit did and they decided it would be fun to get out there.

The only available positions for us though were waitressing at a club not far from the apartment and since we were all under the age of 21, we had to secure fake ID's before applying.

It wasn't hard to sweet talk our way into working for cash and tips only. The management didn't want to pay payroll taxes and we didn't want to give them our social security numbers since the info would differ from our professionally acquired ID's.

After we secured jobs, I insisted that any money we made go into a bank account under my name. We had purchased a safe where they were keeping their funds – an amount I never wanted to know, but I needed cash too and since I wasn't hiding from my parents, I opened the account in New York. They were fine with putting the money in that account and it quickly grew to more money than the house had sold for.

Staying for a while in NYC turned into staying in the city for years. Before we knew it, it had been just over two years and we were celebrating my 21st birthday in the middle of September. To everyone we knew at the club though, we were celebrating Vivian's 24th birthday.

The fake IDs we had gotten when we first got to town had remained our identities through the years. Even the people we started hanging out with after work hours didn't know who we really were and in a way we found that exciting. After all, we knew we wouldn't be staying in New York for the rest of our lives.

While it was fun for us pretending to be different people, we never thought we'd be grateful for those false identities. We had started a habit of hanging out with a group of people from the club on the weekends after closing the bar. This particular Friday night in the middle of July just over three years of living in New York was no different.

We had joined Peter Wilcox, a security guard at Club Red and five others in Peter's apartment to wind down after a busy night. Peter was a decent guy, fun to hang out, but he was also a drug dealer. We knew he dealt but we didn't realize he was caught up in a world much bigger than New York City.

We never partook in the drug portion of the evenings so when he would start with business or break out the product to enjoy with his guests, the three of us left the room. He knew it and he understood it as did the others that were usually at Peter's. No one bothered us about it which was probably why we ignored the whole thing and just usually closed ourselves in his master bath. But we all were still well aware of the possible danger and repercussions that could come from hanging out with Peter.

So anyways – that Friday was just a normal Friday night for us. The drugs came out after we had been there about an hour and well past our tipsy stages so we stumbled our way back to the bathroom laughing at each other and causing the whole group to laugh at our antics.

"Peter's friend Royce is kinda hot." Rose said while fluffing her already perfect hair.

"I dunno there's something fishy about him." Alice slurred while trying to pull her pants up and flush the toilet.

"You know how I feel about everything." I laughed at my short friend. "We need to get new friends. These people are gonna run out of luck eventually and…" I said but stopped mid-sentence as we heard yelling from the living room.

"Jay! What the fuck are you…" Peter yelled.

"Heard DEA picked you up last night. Heard you traded them intel…"

"I would never bro…" Peter started but he never got to finish.

The gun shot caused all three of us to jump but at least we were sensible enough to keep our mouths shut, not without effort though. Unfortunately though we were all frozen in terror. We heard muffled yelling and then five more shots rang out before there was complete silence.

"What…" Rose whispered.

"Check the place for anyone else. I'm sure Wilcox had some pussy around here somewhere."

'_Fuck'_ we all mouthed to each other. Thankfully the bathroom we were in had a window out to a fire escape. I pointed to it and we quickly and very quietly snuck out of it. Instead of going down though, we were closer to the roof so we headed up.

Not a second after climbing over the top and out of view, we heard someone yell about no one being there and not seeing anyone on the fire escape.

"Do we go to the cops?" Alice asked through tears. I wanted to say that the right thing would be to go to the cops but I could form words.

"Something tells me this Jay guy doesn't fuck around. He and Peter were obviously _business _partners so I'm sure Jay has some sort of idea who Peter hung with. I'm sure he'll go to the club and ask around. If we go to the cops we will be put in protective custody. Jay will find out that we're missing and he'll track us down and we'll be dead." Rose said.

"Are you suggesting we run?" I finally found my words. What she was saying made sense in a way.

"Yes." She said while drying her tears.

"But our purses and stuff are still in the apartment." Alice reasoned.

"Those purses belong to a Bridgette, a Nicole, and a Vivian. None of which really exist. We'll go back to our apartment, pack as much as we can and leave. Right now. We'll go back west and start over but as Rose, Alice, and Bella. Hell if our parents find us. They're better than a murderous drug dealer,"


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for the response on this story so far! You're all so wonderful. **

**We're gonna jump to Edward now...this story will be altering POV's - I'll let you know who's view before the start so you're not wondering. :-) I wasn't sure I was going to write Edward's view until I sat down to do Chapter 2...that's why chapter 1 wasn't labeled as Bella, in case you were wondering. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Two years we'd been working on getting an inside on Denali's operations. Two years and then we finally caught a huge fucking break in the case.

It was absolute pure dumb luck one day that some punk dealing for them sold to one of our undercover agents while he was working on something totally unrelated.

Wilcox had instantly flipped in interrogation and bargained a deal. We had literally just released him so no surveillance team had been put in place at his apartment. This meant we had no one on scene when the dumbass went and got himself murdered.

The problem for the agency was this meant we had a leak in the department but that was Director V's headache and not mine.

_My_ problem was the fact that just as soon as I got my connection, I lost it in the worse possible way. I knew exactly where to point the finger, but if history showed, we would never be able to prove it. Denali was no doubt behind the hit on Wilcox. Even if the whole scene hadn't screamed gang style executions, seeing how Wilcox had just turned snitch on Denali it only made sense that Denali was behind the killings.

The apartment looked like a scene pulled from some movie. Peter Wilcox was shot once to the front of the head while sitting on the couch, the cocaine had been left in lines on the table in front of him telling us exactly what had been going on at the time of the killings. Another clue that it was a hit specifically on Wilcox was the fact that nothing was removed from the apartment. If it had just been a robbery gone wrong, the drugs and most definitely the money would have been taken.

Unfortunately it wasn't just Wilcox that met the business end of a .45 though. We had five other victims that probably had absolutely jack shit to do with Denali and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was hard to have sympathy for them though, I mean they were clearly into the drugs as well and hanging out with Wilcox – in other words not necessarily upstanding citizens; possible homicide comes with the territory, right? I'm not saying it was okay or right for them to get shot point blank in the back of their heads while lying face down, just not really surprising.

None of them had stood a chance.

"Looks like we've got three missing from the party, Cullen." My partner Seth said as he picked up three abandoned purses.

Now I might be a man, but I knew those purses were well over $500 a piece and therefore I also knew that no woman would leave them behind willingly and if they the belonged to the murderers they certainly wouldn't have brought them to a crime scene to only leave them behind for a forensics team to find.

This led me to only one logical conclusion; not only were these three women not suspects in my mind but they quickly became possible kidnap victims.

"Possible abduction. Hired hit men don't typically leave purses behind." I grinned as I took one of the purses from him. "ID for this one says Bridgette Slone. Blonde. Pretty thing if you like that. Denali would sure love her." I said tossing the wallet and purse into an evidence bag.

"This one's cute too…Nicole Allen. Tiny little runt. Five foot nothing. Black hair." Seth said as he dropped those items into another evidence bag. "And our third and final contestant is…_whoa_…well hello there Miss Michaels."

I snorted at my partner's antics and grabbed the wallet from his hand, only to do the same damn thing. Typically ID photos are not good but this one was, for the lack of a better word, perfect. She was a gorgeous brunette and according to her ID, five foot six inches which was perfect height to my six foot. Her birthday was in September and only a couple years younger than me. Her eyes held an innocence that I hadn't been expecting due to the location we found the purses. She looked like someone I would have tried to pick up in a bar.

And then I snapped back to reality and remembered I was looking at a possible victim.

"Vivian Michaels." I said mostly to myself while still staring at her photo which really didn't seem to match the name I had just read. Something was off. Something wasn't right with it but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Even the name is sexy!" Seth laughed.

"Keep it professional Seth. We need to find these three and we needed to do it five minutes ago." I barked. "This was a DEA operation so this is our case. Let's go."

"Sir, yes sir." He saluted before laughing and earning a glare from me.

We scoured the scene for evidence but we didn't find much in the apartment except for what we expected to find; drugs, guns, booze, money, and a shit ton of finger prints.

No shell casings from the bullets and no evidence to link the murders to Denali except that one of the dead guys was a recent informant.

Back at the office, Director Volturi called Seth and me into his office for a debriefing of the situation. To say he was unhappy about the turn of events was an understatement.

Aro Volturi was a good man, an asshole most of the time, but honestly a good man. He had taken me under his wing when I moved to New York and showed me the ropes around the agency and became my mentor so to speak.

I was only 22 when I arrived in NYC and fresh out of the academy but I was by no means naive. I was used to living in a city having grown up in Chicago before having to move to Los Angeles to live with my Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle.

My parents had tried to shelter me from the evils of the world in Chicago, but when they were killed by stray bullets during a drug deal gone bad, the evils were no longer hidden from me. At 13 I knew all too well how evil the world was and I knew I wanted to do something about it.

Since I was a minor, I was sent to live with my Aunt and Uncle in Los Angeles. I knew I owed them everything, because my mother's sister and her husband were willing to let me live with them, I was kept out of the foster system and was given a life that allowed me to become what I wanted.

After I graduated high school, I immediately went into law enforcement. I was still in the academy when I was approached by a DEA recruitment officer who invited me to join them instead of the LAPD. I hadn't previously considered the DEA, but it was an opportunity I wasn't about to pass up. Joining the Drug Enforcement Administration meant I was closer to the danger and gave Esme and Carlisle more worry, but it was exactly what I wanted.

At the time I accepted the invitation to join the DEA tough, I didn't realize I was going to be placed in NYC office. Moving across the country alone with no family was difficult, I won't lie, but I just threw myself into the work.

It didn't take me long to work my way up the chain of command in the New York branch of the DEA. My ability to read people like books and know exactly what it would take to get them to fold like cheap suitcases served me well. I was given the lead on the Denali case and Seth Clearwater as a partner after only two years of shit work for Volturi. And then it had taken me two more years to get what I thought was my break in the case.

"Cullen, Clearwater…what the fuck happened today?" Aro sighed from his desk as we sat down across from him. He looked up from the case file and raised an eyebrow.

Aro was an older man, probably early 60's, with greying hair and worn down tired eyes. His Italian heritage was still very strong though and he could still rope the ladies in whenever we would grab a beer after a shift. It was actually kind of an ego crusher for me. I wasn't by no means hard to look at, and I knew this to be true because I certainly had no trouble with the ladies, but if I was out with Aro it was like I didn't even exist.

"Not sure sir." Seth said as he nervously thumbed his notepaper with the crime scene details. "Definitely Denali which means they've probably got someone on the inside keeping them informed of our movements. We had just picked Wilcox up the night before and then less than 24 hours later he's murdered."

"While losing the informant is bad…I mean really bad, I'm now more concerned about the possible hostages." I said. Aro quirked an eyebrow at me as if to say 'since when were you worried about anything other than Denali', but I just ignored him and rolled my eyes. "Seth found three purses at the scene but none of the victims matched the IDs and there wasn't any one else in the apartment when we arrived. Kidnapping is a new venture for Denali if this is what it truly is."

"They could be planted to throw you off the trail or something." Aro said.

"I suppose but I highly doubt that these three had anything to do with the horrible gang style murders we saw back at that apartment."

"Cullen's got the hots for the brunette." Seth laughed as someone knocked on the office door keeping me from refuting the statement.

"This better be damn important." Aro grumbled as one of the forensic techs stuck their head in.

"Um…it is sir. It involves the case Agent Cullen and Agent Clearwater are working on, the Wilcox murder, sir." A mousy girl stammered as she shoved a few pieces of paper towards my hands. "It's about the finger prints found on the purses of the three missing females."

Faster than I thought possible, I ripped the papers out of her hands and started reading the findings. The girl disappeared and Aro and Seth waited patiently as I tried to sort through the information provided.

It didn't make any damn sense to me. None of it did. The finger prints found on the items didn't match the ID's. In fact when the ID's were pulled up in the system, they didn't match anything. The women didn't exist, well at least not as the names on the ID's. The finger prints did however pull up three files in the database.

"Um…the IDs don't match the finger prints on the items." I said still staring at the print outs in front of my face.

"What? So we have three more people missing?" Aro asked.

"Not exactly. Apparently the three IDs we found were fakes. Really damn good fakes. Bridgette Slone, Nicole Allen, and Vivian Michaels don't exist."

"So our possible kidnapped females just jumped to the suspect list." Seth said.

"I don't think so. The finger prints they left at the scene match the pictures on the IDs and also match the personal information except for the social security numbers, birth years, and names. Hitters wouldn't do that."

"Alright, I follow that logic." Aro mused. "Who are the three we need to get BOLO's out for?"

"Rosalie Lillian Hale, 21 from Phoenix Arizona. Been off the grid for just over three years. Alice Brandon, 21 also from Phoenix and been MIA for the same amount of time. And then…Isabella Marie Swan, 21 and from Forks, Washington. Last activity under her name was closing out a bank account this morning from right here in the city but that's pretty much it. They're ghosts."

"Like spooks?" Seth said confused.

"No you dumbass. Not CIA…they literally just disappeared one day. Like ghosts." Aro laughed at the rookie.

I was too engrossed in the three pieces of paper in front of me to really care what the conversation between the two was. All I could focus on was the family history provided and other prior activity on the three girls.

Especially Isabella.

Her father was the police chief of a small town in Washington State before retiring early and moving to Alaska. Her parents divorced her junior year of high school. Her mother moved to Jacksonville, Florida with a new boyfriend. She worked at a diner before quitting in June of 2000 and she was completely clean. Not a single smudge on her record. She didn't even have a speeding ticket. What in the hell was she doing at Peter Wilcox's apartment on a Friday night? Why did she have a professional fake ID? And where the hell was she now?

Rosalie's record was clean too except for a speeding ticket or two while in Phoenix. Her father, Andrew, though had a warrant out for his arrest; suspicion of blackmail amongst other indiscretions. Rosalie was clean though. Her credit history showing she closed a bank account in June as well as a trust fund worth in the high 7 figures.

Alice's record on the other hand was sealed after the age of 18 so any of her arrests were tucked away under lock and key. It would take a federal warrant to get that unsealed. After 18 though, she was clean – of course this was also when she disappeared from the radar. She turned 18 in April of 2000, closed her bank account and a trust fund and then _poof_ gone in June also.

The mystery was mind-numbingly confusing and intriguing all at the same time.

"The BOLO's are out. We're watching for any activity on these three – anywhere. We've got them marked so if they do something we'll know about it." Aro's statement interrupted my studying.

"Great. We also need to pull phone records and credit card statements for the following group of people; Charles Wayne Swan, Renee Elizabeth Swan, Andrew Jackson Hale, Michelle Whithall Brandon, and Graham Richard Brandon." I said as I handed the pieces of paper to Seth.

"Finding these three women just jumped to the priority for you two. I will assign the dead-end murder investigation to someone else." Aro said then dismissed us.

I was more than okay with the new assignment from Aro. I had to get answers to the millions of questions that the three mysterious women had created in my mind.

There was definitely something more to the puzzle than what appeared.

Because what it appeared to be was that Rosalie, Alice, and Isabella had somehow gotten mixed up with Denali and were now doing some sort of dirty work for him. Were they being used to get close to dealers Denali couldn't trust anymore? Did something go wrong during this latest operation that put the girls on Denali's hit list? Were they in danger now or were _they_ the danger? Why were they leading multiple lives?

The following day, Sunday, Seth and I tracked the movements of the fake ID's. We discovered they worked at the same club as Peter but worked only for cash and tips. No personal information aside from the IDs was taken at hiring. Management said they didn't question the request made by the girls to stay off grid because they were, and I quote, 'smoking hot pieces of ass that would bring the people in'. I wanted to slap the pig.

Apparently everyone that we found in Wilcox's apartment that day were employees of Club Red and the only ones who really knew anything about Rosalie, Alice, and Isabella. No one else knew where they were from or even where they were living.

No apartments were leased under the fake identifications and no cars were purchased. We caught a small break when after searching through Peter's information we uncovered the address where the girls were staying.

They were living in a three bedroom loft apartment about three blocks from Club Red and something way more expensive than what their tips and salary were bringing in. Rosalie and Alice had clearly used their trust funds to rent the place.

When we arrived, we found it clean. Not a single personal item left. They had even removed the trash bags from the trash cans. It was absolutely pristine except for a small piece of folded paper sitting neatly on the kitchen counter. I put my gloves on and opened it slowly, worried about what might have been on it, but written beautifully in the middle of the piece of paper was one sentence that made me wonder yet again who those women were and where they had gone.

'_Things aren't as they might seem…please believe.'_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Back to Bella now! **

**I've never included visual aids with my stories before, but I have two for this chapter - I tried to add links on my profile but it doesn't seem to want to work for some reason...I'm probably doing something wrong. So...if you can't see the links on the profile but want the pictures, send me a message and I'll send you the links. I have a floor plan for the apartment and an actual layout for the apartment community itself. **

**Thanks as always for your support! I love to know what you all think!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

"It's fucking hot." I complained from the backseat of the Rover. It was Wednesday morning meaning we had been on the road for four days since leaving New York City and I was glad we had reached the destination determined suitable by Rose and Alice. I was mainly happy because it was cramped as hell in the car with all of our shit that we grabbed from the apartment in NYC. We took only the personal affects and left the place spotless. Rose's idea to clean – even removing the trash bags and getting rid of those after we left the city, actually after we had left the state. Well out of the state. We had left the city early Sunday morning and drove all day until we reached Indianapolis, Indiana. It was our first stop and also when we tossed the trash bags in a dumpster outside of a random restaurant, far away from the hotel we were staying in. Again Rose's idea.

I had suspicions that she had either watched too many crime dramas on TV or she had personal experience in such moves. I didn't question her on any of it though, because I figured if she wanted me to know, I would know. I didn't want to go prying into Rose's past, especially since she seemed less than willing to share it.

I figured no matter how hard we tried though, the cops would make it to the abandoned apartment and we would be suspects in the murders. Because _I_ _had_ watched too many crime dramas, I knew the police usually got what they wanted and I grew up with a cop so I had suspicions and worries about the whole damn situation. I knew even though the IDs we left in the apartment were not us, our finger prints were on them. It was honestly only a matter of time. We should have probably stayed in NYC and went to the cops, but it was two against one and since they had become what I considered sisters, I followed.

They problem was that they were worried about this Jay guy finding us and I was only worried about the authorities. It was probably why they hadn't thought about the whole finger print thing or the fact that the cops would somehow trace us to our new location. No matter the size of the city we were in.

Knowing we would be suspects, I left a note behind hoping a cop who had some sense of investigative ability would find it. I knew that Rose and Alice would probably be upset with me if they knew I left the note, but I had to do something to help my nerves and worries. I regretted leaving it to an extent but the feeling of relief, satisfaction in knowing it was the right thing to do, and happiness in my decision was greater than the regret.

I was not happy, however; that it was hotter than the damn sun where we were. I assumed we were going to a big city, some place easy to hide in and blend in, but I wasn't thinking Los Angeles.

I should have known better with Alice at the wheel.

"I'm going to fucking die." I whined. According to the bank we had passed earlier, it was 102 and it sure as shit felt like it. It was no secret I was less than a fan of hot weather. I guess it could have been worse – they could have decided to go back to their home town of Phoenix.

"I think she really might die, Ali." Rose laughed looking back at me through the side mirror.

"She just needs a damn Snickers bar or something." Alice laughed at her own joke, which was not funny to anyone else but her.

"No I need the damn A/C turned on in this bitch." I grumbled.

"It's gorgeous and we need to cruise with the windows down to tell everyone we're here and we're gonna stay." Alice smiled. It was the same argument we had been having since we entered the city limits. And I was all for the whole cruising with the windows down thing, but since we were at a dead stand still on Hollywood Boulevard, I was in favor of turning the A/C on.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity we started moving again and headed toward an apartment building Rose had searched out using her laptop and the numerous free wireless networks she found at the hotels we stayed out while traveling.

She was being pretty quiet about the apartment but had confirmed the neighborhood as West Los Angeles between Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, just a block off of Santa Monica Boulevard.

Alice was ecstatic to say the least about the location. She was even more on cloud nine when we parked and walked through the lobby to the leasing office at Eleven950 Apartments.

Even I was in awe of the place Rose had managed to locate; four stories of ultra-modern, ultra sleek beautiful apartments. The lobby itself was gorgeous. One thing I wasn't too thrilled about though was that it appeared the mailboxes for the entire community were right there in the lobby…and it wasn't just one apartment building with four or five units. Nope. It had 90 some odd units. Honestly it looked more like a hotel then apartments. I was willing to sacrifice the possible long walk though simply because I was so in awe of the lobby, the fountain in the courtyard between the lobby and the leasing office, and the leasing office itself.

The staff left a little to be desire though. After a few minutes of trying to get past the "valley girl" act the leasing staff put on, we decided on a three bedroom, three bath, 1300 square foot, fourth floor unit. It was of course pretty far from the mailboxes, but it was close to an elevator, stairs, trash, the pool, the spa, and it actually shared a building with the fitness center.

Since we had no place to live, we asked if we could expedite the move-in process and they agreed. We had to open a checking account though first and then provide a money order or cashier's check for the deposit and first month's rent. Since we all agreed previously to start over using our own names, all three of us opened our own accounts at the bank across the street then provided the cashier's check in the amount of $2,700.

After everything was signed and paid, the leasing staff took us on a walk-through of the apartment. In order to get to our apartment, we left the leasing office through the back door and took a right down a hallway. We passed the clubhouse which we could rent for a fee of course and then turned left where our indoor path suddenly turned to an outdoor path and we proceeded to pass the pool and spa area. The pool was spectacular and even had private cabanas set up along one side.

The leasing agent pointed up as we stood admiring the pool to single out our unit and the building we would be in.

"Your unit is #418. You have a view of the pool and then from the master bedroom which is your corner you can actually see the Hollywood Sign. Every room has a view of the pool. That's your balcony overlooking the pool right there." She smiled.

"Holy shit you guys." I laughed as we continued walking with the leasing agent.

"Here's where it gets kinda tricky. From our current location, we have to continue on the path we were on, it will turn back into an indoor hallway that will lead us to the elevators. We'll take it up to the 4th floor and then double back towards the pool. Your door will be the second on the right from that direction. This is the same way you'll come if you've parked in the underground garage. The garage spans the entire property so you'll want to make sure you park all the way back here so you take elevator #2 to your floor." She said as we stepped into the elevator.

"This is insane." Alice laughed.

"Now…to get your mail, you can walk out your door and turn right, the opposite direction of the elevators. It is the same path we just took from the leasing office except it is four stories in the air. It will go from being indoor to outdoor but will take you all the way back to the front of the building to get your mail. There is an elevator in the lobby that will take you down to ground level where the mailboxes are."

"Right." All three of said as we stepped off the elevator.

"I'm so gonna get lost." I laughed.

"It's pretty easy once you get the hang of everything. Your guests have to park on the street or we have guest parking in the underground garage…one spot per unit. Your unit has 4 designated spots since it's a three bedroom unit. If you don't have 3 cars among yourselves, then you have extra guest spots. The guest will need a pass which you can provide. It's just a printed piece of paper. I usually print a few off and give them to everyone who visits the most and they can just keep them in their car."

As she finished up her speech about the guests and parking, she unlocked our apartment for us.

And I forgot everything she had just told us because the apartment was outstanding.

The entry was a light tan colored ceramic tile and led directly into an open concept dining room and living area. There was a bathroom immediately to the left of the entry way and was shared by guests and the third bedroom. The kitchen was to the right and through the dining room.

The kitchen was beautiful. The same ceramic tile in the entry way was in the kitchen as well and we also had granite countertops, maple kitchen cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and a large pantry.

There was a corner bar which allowed whoever was in the kitchen to mingle with the people in the living room and then off the living room was the balcony.

Down a hall off the living room, we had our washer and dryer and across the hall was the second bedroom. The bath there was not an ensuite but across the hall so available for guests to use as well. At the end of the hallway was the door to the master.

All of the three bathrooms had the same ceramic tile as well as the granite counter tops. The only bathroom that didn't have a bathtub/shower combo was the master, which I found to be strange, but the shower was enormous; glass frameless doors and multiple shower heads. Of course it had the largest closet, a walk-in with more room than any of us needed, even Alice didn't have enough clothes to fill the thing.

All the closets came with built-in organizers already in them. The windows already had sheer fabric window shades. And the carpet was that expensive plush stuff which was super soft.

It was absolutely perfect.

"This is perfect!" Rose exclaimed echoing my thought.

"I love it!" Alice said while clapping and jumping up and down. "And now we get to go shopping for decorations and furniture. Yay!"

"You're the first to live in this specific unit so everything is brand new. Please contact the leasing office if you have any questions or if any problems arise." The leasing agent said then left us alone in our new apartment.

Before we did anything though, we went and moved the car to the parking garage and carried what stuff we did have upstairs.

I figured I was going to take the second bedroom, which was the smallest of the three but to my surprise, Rose took that one saying she didn't need the space but wanted a bathtub.

And then Alice claimed the third bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment due to the larger closest and bathtub.

That left me the master bedroom with the largest closet just because I couldn't have cared less if I had a bathtub or not. I had the kick ass shower and I was definitely happy with that – plus it was a private bathroom. I also had the view to die for out the side window.

After deciding on who was taking what rooms, we headed out shopping and shop we did. Alice coordinated everything making sure everything flowed from room to room.

Everything in the common area had a modern flare to it. For the living room we decided on a tan long square sofa with two square end tables in a maple to match the kitchen. A lounge angled to where the TV would be placed on the wall across from the sofa. Alice went with different shades of blues for accents that she carried into the dining room for the wall accents.

The only stipulation I added for the dining room was the table be a tall table that matched the wood in the kitchen. It had to have a leaf so we could extend it to seat at least six and since it was pretty much my only demand for the common area, they agreed.

Alice decided she wanted her room to have a romantic feel so she painted the walls a soft greyish-blue color and found a white headboard for her queen sized bed. She got creative and hung four wrought iron curtain rods from the ceiling to provide support for white linen bed curtains that she could close around her bed. Her bedspread was a soft gold with grey Victorian designs. To contrast with the walls and the white already in her room, the bedside tables she chose were a cream color.

It was pretty, but not for Rose or I.

Rose chose to go more modern for her room, she painted her walls a light grey but her accents and design elements were combinations of black and white. Her furniture was all black wood; her bed linens were white to contrast.

I told her it was dull and monotone so she added a few pillows to her bed that were red and a couple of candles that also brought red into the room.

Of course when I chose green as the main color concept in my room, they both questioned me. They understood a little better when I told them the walls would all be a light beige (almost white) color except for the wall behind my bed which would be pale green. I fell in love with a sleigh bed in a dark mahogany wood that worked well with the green. And since I had the extra room in the bedroom, I added a reading chair with the beige and green concept continued. I also had room for a desk in a corner by the largest window, which excited me to no end.

After we were finished with the shopping and we had unpacked everything we could, Rose and Alice decided we needed to venture out into the neighborhood.

I really would have preferred to stay in but since we had absolutely no furniture in the apartment due to having to have it all delivered, there really wasn't any point in staying home. We didn't even have our TV yet because Rose had to have the biggest one possible and the 64" flat screen wouldn't fit in the car with all the other stuff we had grabbed.

Since it was already 9 o'clock we didn't spend the normal hour or longer getting ready so we weren't by any means going for glamorous. We were all in shorts; Rose and I in short jean shorts, Alice in black cotton. I had just a plain white tank top on and I was more than okay with it ending there and putting on flip flops, but Alice insisted I dress it all up with pink hoop earrings and pink wedge sandals. After the tiring day it just wasn't worth arguing with her on it so I just did it.

Rose threw on a black tube top and accessorized with yellow but kept the shoes black basic stiletto pumps. And then Alice…she pulled out one of her teal blue backless halter tops, paired white jewelry and a pair of her favorite white sandals that had teal swirls in them.

At least they decided to keep their hair pulled back in ponytails so I wasn't the only with "messy move-in day hair."

We had no idea where we were going or what we were looking for so after we headed out of the garage we just went towards Santa Monica Boulevard and then took a right back towards Beverly Hills.

We came to Wilshire and Alice took a right because it was really all we knew at that point and didn't want to get lost. We didn't really expect to find a bar in that area of town but not long after turning onto Wilshire, Rose found a club.

"Hey look there…Club Noir just off of Wilshire. Gotta be an upscale place. Let's check it out." She said pointing towards a relatively new looking building. It was black with a red awning. The name of the club was written in silver paint on the side of the building in elegant script.

She was right it definitely looked upscale so Alice parked curb side a block down and we headed to check it out.

The door man eyeballed us before asking for ID. After he eyeballed us a little more, he ushered us inside.

"On the house tonight ladies." He said in a deep voice.

"Thank you." Alice chirped before we continued down the dark hallway towards the pulsing music.

When we turned the corner we came face to face with the last thing we expected to find in the middle of Beverly Hills.

No one was currently on the stage but the waitresses were walking around in barely there outfits and the bartenders were giant sized men – probably hired as additional security guards but I doubted they were ever really needed to protect the girls.

Alice was laughing too hard to say anything so I did.

"Of all places, you find a fucking strip joint in Beverly Hills Rosalie."

"How the fuck was I supposed to know what this place was! Nothing on the outside screamed strip club!" She laughed.

"I ought to wash your mouth out with soap young lady." A very obviously gay guy said from behind the three of us causing us to jump before slowly turning around.

If he hadn't been gay we probably would have been fighting over him because he was damn hot. Tight black pants, black suit vest with no shirt on underneath, muscles galore, chiseled to the tenth degree. "Welcome to Club Noir ladies. My name is Laurent. And this is anything _but_ a strip club. Our ladies never get naked darling. This is what we call a burlesque club. And you three would be adored by the owner, James. I think you'll need introductions later tonight when he gets here." He said with a wink before sashaying across the room.

And yes he really did sashay.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Let's see what's going on in Edward's world shall we? :-)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

After finding the note and pretty much nothing else in the abandoned apartment, Seth and I talked with the landlord who admitted he let the girls rent without a credit check or signing a lease because they were paying in cash and paid the first 6 months up front. He hadn't even had them sign a lease.

Instead of turning him in or searching the rest of his lease records, we let him go in exchange for surveillance footage. We were DEA after all, not local LEO's. It wasn't our job to police seedy apartment building owners. We had bigger fish to fry and three women to find.

So with a single piece of paper and a couple of copies of film, Seth and I had headed back to headquarters to settle in for a movie marathon. On our way to our offices, we stopped by the evidence department to drop the note off so the techs could run tests and see if any finger prints could be lifted.

Sleazy Landlord had given us the past month's film but it didn't take us long to figure out the habits of the girls. We knew their daily routines by the time we had finished the first week of footage.

They never had anyone except Peter stop over at their apartment and that was just to walk them to and from work which would explain why he was the only one with an address for them. But even at that he never went inside their actual apartment.

They left every Tuesday through Saturday around 4:00 in the afternoon and didn't return sometimes until well after dawn the next day.

It was rare to see any of them without the other two, but we did see Isabella a few times by herself.

And then we caught what we thought was a break; two nights before the murders, the cameras caught Isabella on her cell phone in the lobby of the apartment building and she didn't look happy.

Since it was so recent, we used the time stamp on the video and compared it to cell phone towers near the apartment building. This supplied us a cell phone number registered under Renee Swan.

We gave it to our resident technology geek squad to have a trace put on it but our hopes of a quick turnaround were shattered when we were informed it was going to require a warrant in order to activate the trace.

While Aro worked getting a warrant secured as quickly as possible, Seth and I returned to the videos hoping to find something else that would maybe give us an advantage.

"Cullen! Get your ass in here!" Aro yelled right as I was getting ready to head home after almost an 18 hour shift.

Not that I really had much of a home. I had a one bedroom studio apartment in lower Manhattan with lousy neighbors. It was a place to crash when I wasn't working, which wasn't very often. There were times I slept at the office because I was dedicated to finding and bringing down Denali.

This particular time was the first time I had even attempted to go back home since getting the call about Wilcox. And at that it had only been because I smelled bad even to myself and knew I desperately needed a shower and maybe even a very strong alcoholic beverage.

"What's up Director V?" I said as I walked into his office.

"Close the door Edward." He said before sitting down in his chair. I did as I was told then sat down across from him in a seat I was familiar with. "There's been a development in the case."

"What?" I asked as I instantly went from a relaxed position in the chair to leaning forward with my elbows on my knees attentively staring at him waiting for the next sentence.

"We're still working on getting the trace on Isabella's cell phone, but in the meantime we got an alert on their files. They've opened bank accounts and rented an apartment in Los Angeles…"

"They've gone back on grid?" I said raising an eyebrow trying to keep my unexplainable (and inappropriate) happiness in check.

"Yeah but the kicker is…and I know you're not gonna be thrilled about this one but…them showing up in L.A. puts them more on the suspect list than they already were."

"Why?" I said through a clenched jaw.

"The DEA office out in L.A. says they received an anonymous tip that James Denali has officially moved his main base of operations from New York to L.A. He's always had a business out west, but you and I both know he's never lived anywhere but New York. Apparently that's changed…and recently. Very recently. Like within the week recently."

"Coincidence Aro."

"Awfully big coincidence." He sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But anyways…whether they're suspects, victims, or innocent bystanders, they're in L.A. now and so is your main mark. I don't really want to do this because you're a huge asset to me, but you're being transferred, for the time being at least, out to the L.A. field office."

I was beyond ecstatic to get that news. Moving to L.A. would put me back close to Carlisle and Esme, who I missed dearly, plus it meant I was staying on the Denali case.

_And close to Isabella_, I told myself.

"When do we leave?" I asked.

"We?" Aro questioned and then a flash of understanding crossed his face. "Seth is staying here in New York to keep tabs on Denali's operations here. Just because he's no longer personally in the city, doesn't mean he didn't leave someone behind."

"Alright…so who will I be working with out in L.A.?"

Like most law enforcement officers, I didn't necessarily like working with new people and especially on an important case like this one that would need us to jump right into the nitty gritty. We wouldn't have time to bond before getting shot at and getting shot at was pretty much a guarantee.

"Two of their best agents. They've been working Denali's pipeline for about six months so they have background already on Denali, but not your part of the case. You will have to brief them on the most recent events – and the girls of course. Agent Whitlock and Agent McCarty are expecting your arrival tomorrow evening."

It wasn't much time to do what I needed to do; I had the rest of Wednesday and some of Thursday to get my stuff packed up and move back to Los Angeles. My first order of business was to sublet my apartment since my lease wasn't up on it for another six months.

Luckily, Seth was willing to take over the rent. He had been thrilled to find out that he was being left in charge as lead on the Denali case from the New York side of things. Less than thrilled about me leaving though. In the short time we had been partnered, we had grown close. He had become probably my only true friend. I trusted Seth with my life and he trusted me with his.

I considered it almost a relief when I learned I was still going to have to report to Volturi weekly and that I was pretty much going to have to be in constant communication with Seth. But it just wasn't going to be same.

After a goodbye lunch with the department, I had my second order of business to handle before leaving New York City.

"Edward?" My Aunt Esme questioned sounding more than a little confused and worried when she picked up the phone.

"Well hello to you too. Don't sound so surprised that I'm calling." I laughed.

"It's been so long since we've heard from you. I'm just surprised is all. Is everything okay?"

"Of course. How are you and Uncle Carlisle?"

"Oh hell you know nothing ever goes on around here. We're semi-retired so we lead pretty boring lives. Oh! Actually, Carlisle has decided to finally sell the downtown condo. We just don't need it anymore and since we're spending all of our time at the house now…"

It was perfect timing. No apartment hunting needed. No living with the aunt and uncle until I could find my own place. The condo was in a perfect location too; right on the beach just outside of Beverly Hills – more the Santa Monica neighborhood. The DEA headquarters were close by, about a 20 minute drive and if I remember correctly, the condo was extremely nice.

When Carlisle still worked at the hospital and Esme was decorating fulltime, they purchased the condo for the weeks so they wouldn't have to drive the 45 minutes to an hour into the city from their house up the coast.

"Has the condo been put on the market yet?" I asked.

"Why?" She inquired right back and without answering my question.

"I'm assuming you kept my car in storage all this time, right?"

"Of course. Like Carlisle could get ride of a 1967 Mustang convertible. He loves that thing more than you do. Why?" She asked again and this time with more stress behind it. I could just imagine her squinting her eyes and pursing her lips. I ignored her though.

"What are your plans for Thursday about 3 in the afternoon?"

"Edward Anthony, this little game you're playing isn't cute." She huffed but I could tell she was smiling. "We don't have any plans but I'm hoping this phone call is to tell me we now have someone to pick up at the airport."

"As a matter of fact…I would greatly appreciate it if you could swing by LAX and get me. It would help me out a lot. Sorry for the late…"

"Holy shit!" She screamed causing me to pull the phone away from my ear. "Carlisle! Carlisle! Get your ass in here! Where the hell are you?"

"_I'm right here woman, damn. No need to yell."_ I heard Carlisle say in the background. _"What's all this ruckus about?"_

"Edward's coming to town tomorrow." She cheerfully screamed again and then I heard what could only be described as the phone being dropped. After some shuffling noises, Carlisle's voice came through the receiver.

"Edward? Has Esme gone mad or are you really coming to town?"

"I'm really coming to town. I'm actually being transferred to LA for a while to work on a pretty high profile case. I have no idea how long I'm going to be working from the LA offices, but at least for the foreseeable future."

"It'll be great to have ya back close to us. So…I'm assuming Esme has told you we're selling the condo."

"Yeah about that…"

"We won't sell it just yet. You can move in there for as long as you need it. It's already furnished so you won't have to go buy anything."

"That's perfect Carlisle."

After getting my living arrangements settled, I started packing up my personal belongings to be shipped out to me in Los Angeles. Depressingly enough it didn't take me but a few short hours to get everything packed except the last minute items.

My flight out of New York wasn't scheduled until the afternoon so in the morning I went to the office to make sure everything was wrapped up there and ready for me to leave. When I got there I had a note from forensics letting me know that the finger prints on the piece of paper found in the apartment traced back to Isabella. It didn't really help with our case, except it let us know that the girls were the ones that wrote it and it pointed more to them not being directly involved in the murders. They were looking more like innocent bystanders who somehow made it out of the apartment and away from Denali and were now on the run from him.

Bad luck they ended up in the same city as him though. Of course it could have easily been that Denali followed _them _to Los Angeles and they were now in extreme danger. We still had no way of really knowing. A fact that got more frustrating by the second.

What we did know was that we were able to set up the wire trace for Isabella's cell phone and that went active first thing Thursday morning. I watched it until I had to leave for the airport.

She never once made a phone call and to make things more difficult, we hadn't gotten another hit on any of their files since they leased the apartment and opened the accounts.

They'd basically gone off grid again, but at least this time we had an address to start with.

Since the warrant for the wire trace was obtained in New York, the surveillance had to stay there. Seth promised to keep me informed on any changes and if she used it after I left for LA.

The whole flight I was excited and edgy all rolled into a tightly wound bundle of nerves.

Excited to see Esme and Carlisle. Excited to get started on the Denali case again. Excited to be that much closer to possibly solving the mystery that was Isabella, Alice, and Rosalie.

Nervous and edgy because I was starting on the Denali case again in a different city with different partners. Nervous because I was going to be _the new guy_. Nervous because I was going to be that much closer to solving the mystery that was Isabella, Alice and Rosalie.

When I got to baggage claim at LAX, it wasn't hard to spot Esme and Carlisle.

Probably because Esme was standing on one of the chairs waving her arms above her head.

"Edward!" She said as soon as she spotted me. I laughed at her excitement and my uncle's embarrassment.

"Esme, get off that thing." He said as he tried to tug her down.

"Oh hush." She said as I extended my arms to hug my aunt. "Edward, honey, it is so wonderful to have you back." She said as she embraced me tightly in only a hug Esme could give.

"It's good to be back. I missed you both very much."

"We missed you too, son." Carlisle said as he gave me a hug as well. "Come on, let's grab your stuff and then head to the condo. I've already pulled the car from storage and parked it in the garage for you."

"Thanks." I smiled. "I really appreciate you letting me stay at the condo."

"Oh nonsense! Of course you're staying there. So I'm making your favorite for dinner tonight…" Esme stated but when I grimaced she stopped at sighed. "You won't be able to come to dinner tonight will you?"

"I really want to Esme, but I have to meet my new partners tonight and get them caught up with the case. I have no idea what my schedule is going to be. If they're anything like me, we'll be digging into the case immediately after I get them caught up to speed. It's a very time sensitive case."

"Someone in danger?" Carlisle asked.

"You know I can't talk about it." I said apologetically.

"Of course not. Stupid of me to ask. And we understand; you'll come over for dinner as soon as your schedules allows."

"Thanks for understanding." I smiled at the only family I knew.

On our drive to the condo, we caught up as much as we could. I couldn't really talk about my life much as my life was pretty much work.

It didn't take long before Esme asked about my love life – or lack there of and tried to get me interested in the possibility of her setting me up with a few young ladies she knew from her salon.

My refusal was quick and adamant.

I had a case to solve before I even began to think about dating, not to mention once the case was solved I would moving back to New York. A distraction was definitely not something I needed. She huffed but nodded when I made her promise not to do anything sneaky.

After we arrived at the condo, Esme and Carlisle didn't hang around long knowing I needed to get over to the DEA office to meet my new partners.

It was an easy drive to the office and when I arrived the first person I saw in the lobby was easily probably one of the biggest men I had ever seen, also one of the most intimidating.

He was at least 6 foot 3 and solid muscle. He was wearing jeans and a tight black t-shirt. I'm positive it was the biggest size they sold, but it looked like an extra-small the way it stretched across the man. The sleeves were tight on his biceps, which were probably the size of my head and tattooed. He had visible ink on both arms, his left arm's artwork being a three-quarter sleeve. He turned his head to watch a female that walked by and when he did, I noticed the tattoos on his left arm extended to the shoulder and a bit was on his neck. He had dark brown hair, but it was shaved down like a Marine buzz-cut.

He honestly looked like a thug. A huge monstrous thug and one that I would not want to fight with.

"McCarty…quit staring at my ass. You know the deal." The female said smiling back at the big man, who I now realized was one of my new partners. I was both terrified and happy at this revelation.

"Oh…I know Amy but that's doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view a little, right!" He hollered back with a wink and smile. The smile revealed dimples that gave the man an almost boyish face; not something that fit the rest of him.

I approached him and as I got closer, the smaller I felt. Now, I wasn't small by any means. I took pride in my workout schedule and the fact that I definitely could hold my own in a fight if it came to it, but I felt like the scrawny kid from junior high when I got next to McCarty.

"Excuse me." I said to get his attention. He turned his head towards me, raised an eyebrow, squinted, and then cracked a blinding smile. "Um…I'm Edward…"

"Cullen! Welcome to L.A. man! Glad to have you join Whitlock and me!" He all but yelled in the lobby while clapping his right hand on my shoulder; the weight of which actually took my left shoulder down a bit.

"Agent McCarty…"

"Emmett…or Em…or just McCarty, man. Agent McCarty won't due. Come on, I'll take ya up to the office and introduce you to Jasper before we get into the show and tell portion of our day." He said as he walked away and towards a bank of elevators. "Office is on the fifth floor. We're the only field agents up there. It's kinda nice not to have to share our space with more than one team."

"Really? Where's the director?" I had asked surprised. Volturi's office was right there next to Seth's and my desks. He was right in the middle of everything. Knew what was going on at every second of the day. I found it very odd that there wasn't anyone looking over their shoulders at every move.

"Oh…he's in the building. Just on the floor below us. We ran out of room for all of the Denali info we had collected so they moved us to the floor with forensics. Definitely has its perks. They're quiet and afraid of us so we hardly notice we're sharing space with a bunch of brains. And of course, since we're right there, they tend to get our stuff done quicker. Jasper deals with them more because he's…um what's the word I'm looking for…"

"Less intimidating?" I said cracking a smile at the giant next to me. It earned me a huge grin, a deep laugh, and yet another clap on the shoulder as the elevator doors opened and we stepped off.

"I may be bigger than Jazz, but once you get to know him, he's very intimidating. He's that quiet type. You know the type, the type that observes before acting. He's extremely smart and calculating. I've seen him interrogate someone…he can definitely be a scary son-of-a-bitch if he needs to be. I get the same vibe from you actually."

"Me?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't fool me one bit Cullen." He said as we walked into an office with three desks and piles upon piles of evidence stacked every where. There were maps on the walls with pins in them marking locations. There were pictures of people I assumed to be linked to Denali in some way. It was truly a massive amount of information. It was way more than we had in New York City and almost left me with a feeling of uselessness.

Sitting at one of the desks was a man I assumed to be Whitlock. He had blonde shaggy hair, slight five o'clock shadow thing going on. He looked to probably be about my size, but other than that I really couldn't tell anything else. He was reading over something and seemed to be completely engrossed in it. He hadn't even looked up from it when we walked in.

"Whitlock!" Emmett boomed but only received the raising a single finger signaling him to hold on. Emmett looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Whitlock! Come on…Cullen's here! We've got to get to business. Reading the man's file isn't gonna tell you anything more than the actual man can."

"He's reading my file?" I whispered.

"Of course. Didn't you read ours?"

"No…I wasn't given the opportunity. I was told your names and when I was due to show up."

"Huh…that means he probably hacked the system and pulled it himself without permission." He laughed. "Fucking loser."

That time the finger Emmett received wasn't an innocent one telling him to hold a second.

"I'll just tell the authorities that you held me down against my will until I pulled the file if we're questioned." Jasper finally spoke as he stood up from his desk. "Welcome Cullen. Glad to have you join the team. Let's go over our notes and compare what we know."

I've never been one to be surprised by much, but the southern accent that came out of Jasper when he spoke, shocked the hell out of me. The man looked like a surfer from southern California from head to toe. After he stood up, I realized he was wearing board shorts and flip-flops looking more like he had come straight from the beach instead of being a DEA agent.

"Glad to meet ya Whitlock." I said extending my hand. "I've got all my stuff with me so where do you wanna do this?"

"The bar down the street." Emmett answered. "We're late for happy hour."


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: For anyone who doesn't know - I live in Indianapolis which means this past week (and today) has been nothing but a huge freaking party. I've been enjoying the Super Bowl parties all week and fell behind on writing. With that said, I'm staying home today and am going to try to get the next chapter written in order to keep up with the weekly posting schedule that I've been able to hold so far. Wish me luck! :-) **

**Back to Bella's view...we left them in the burlesque club last...**

**Thanks for reading and would love to know more what everyone is thinking so far. **

**~Tiff**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

After the shock of finding a burlesque club in Beverly Hills wore off, the three of us found a table towards the back of the bar and took in the scene around us.

Each table was an intimate round setting of 2 or 4 chairs with a small votive candle lit in the middle of each one. The lighting in the whole place was low setting a seductive scene. The walls were what looked to be some sort of deep red velvet material, probably serving two purposes – looks and acoustics.

I knew Laurent had said it wasn't a strip club but it certainly had the gentleman's club décor and ambience. And really the only thing I could see that was missing was the poles on the stage.

The stage was a pretty decent size, elevated enough to give even those in the back a nice view of everything. To stage right was a balcony of sorts that was clearly the VIP section.

To stage left was the bar. The wall behind the bar was mirrored and shelved with the liquor bottles. The bar was as long as the wall itself allowing for at least 30 additional barstool seats.

As I looked around the bar I couldn't help but take inventory of the clientele. The other people in the bar could only be described as the rich and probably famous on occasion. It was definitely a place I could see movie stars spending time in. Even out of the VIP section they had bottle service.

And it was about the same time all three of us realized how extremely underdressed for the location we were. No one was in fancy black tie clothing or anything like that but they were definitely dressed nicely – much nicer than jean shorts and tank tops.

The other thing we noticed was that they were short staffed on the waitress front, well it was that or they were refusing to serve us.

"This is fucking ridiculous." Rose huffed as she looked around for a waitress. "Gotta have a dick to get served in this place or something?"

"You're certainly in a mood all of sudden." Alice laughed.

"We can just go to the bar and order." I suggested.

"Not the point. They have wait staff, we shouldn't have to get up and go to the bar every time we want a drink." Rose said loud enough for just about everyone next to us to hear. We got a couple of chuckles and agreements on the wait time to be served and then seemingly out of nowhere a little blonde wearing what looked to be a black version of a Hooter's girl outfit bounced up to us.

"Hi! I'm Jessica. Welcome to Noir. What can I get for ya?"

"Can we just get three shots of Patron and three Stellas." Alice said before Rose could say anything smart.

"Not a problem ladies. Just to let you know, we had a waitress and a bartender not show tonight so we're short staffed and it's taking some time to get drink orders filled. Sorry in advance for your wait." She smiled before quickly walking away.

"See not her fault." I laughed but when five minutes had passed and we still didn't have our simple as shit order, even I was getting frustrated.

"Could do this damn job with my eyes closed – by myself." I said with a frustrated sigh.

"No shit." Alice and Rose agreed.

"I don't even see Jessica anywhere." Alice said as we all started looking around for her. Alice was right though, she was nowhere to be found – until I glanced up at the VIP section above us. She was standing with Laurent and some other man. The other man was kind of on the short side, with what looked to be blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his neck. He had a very expensive looking suit on and even from where we were sitting, I could see the Rolex on his wrist.

He was clearly a person of high importance in the club. He appeared to be giving specific directions to Jessica who was nodding and agreeing to everything the man was saying even though she didn't seem thrilled about it. As he finished his speech to Jessica, he turned slightly and pointed down to our table, totally catching me staring in the process.

"Shit." I said and quickly turned my head.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Found Jessica. She's up in that VIP area and she was talking to some important dude who ended his conversation with her while pointing down to our table. I was caught staring at him like an idiot."

And like pretty much any other human would, they immediately looked up to the VIP section.

"No Jessica but that Laurent dude and blondie are still talking and looking down at our table." Rose said as Alice waved coyly and sent a smile their direction acknowledging we saw them looking at us just as much as they saw us looking at them.

"You're such a damn flirt." I laughed.

"Oh and like you aren't, Miss I-Squeeze-My-Boobs-Together-For-Free-Drinks!" She laughed as she swatted my arm.

"Ladies…" Jessica interrupted. We all looked her direction with questioning stares waiting for her to continue or give us our damn drinks. "Mr. Denali would like for you three to join him this evening in his private section. Your shots and drinks are already up there." She said snippy before turning on her heels and all but stomping away from our table.

"Well someone's got sour grapes." I laughed as Alice stuck her tongue out at the retreating figure. "Shall we join this Mr. Denali character?"

"Well yeah that's where our drinks are!" Rose said as she popped up out of her chair. "Ladies." She said making a sweeping motion with her hand as Alice and I both stood and headed towards the stairs that led to the VIP section.

Laurent met us at the top wearing a huge smile on his face.

"Mr. Denali is very excited to meet you three. Before I even pointed you out to him, he was asking who the three beautiful women were." He said then looked directly at me and winked. "He's especially interested in you dear. You've managed to catch his eye that's for sure."

"Me?" I asked flabbergasted as I looked to my left at my blonde bombshell of a friend and then to my right at the petit goddess.

They both just rolled their eyes at me and sighed.

"So this Mr. Denali guy then…he's the owner of the club?" Rose asked.

"Sure is. Now come on and follow me, he's not a very patient man. Plus I do believe you have a few beverages waiting for you. Jessica was on her way to deliver your drinks when James demanded she take them to his VIP room." He said then turned and walked away towards a curtained off room at the end of a dark hallway.

On our way we passed a few more curtained rooms, but they didn't have their curtains closed – or a huge man guarding them.

"Felix." Laurent purred as he walked through the curtains. "Now that is one fine piece of man meat…of course he's as straight as they come but I do admire the scenery he provides me." He laughed as we followed him into the room.

The room had two black sofas with a glass table in the middle, along with a private bar and of course a balcony overlooking the stage. From his spot he could keep an eye on everything going on in Noir without ever leaving the comfort or his privacy.

"Welcome ladies." Mr. Denali said as he stood from his seat on one of the black leather sofas.

"Thank you for inviting us up here this evening." Alice said as she extended her hand to him. "I'm Alice."

"Pleasure." He said as he shook her hand before turning to Rose. "And you are?"

"Rose."

"Marvelous." He said as he shook her hand as well. "And who are you, gorgeous?"

"Bella." I all but choked out as he took my hand and placed a chaste kiss on the back of it.

"Enchanting." He said.

Not even gonna lie, the man gave me the creeps. He just screamed sleaze bag. I couldn't even tell you what it was about him that turned me off exactly, but I was instantly uncomfortable around him. Something about his eyes that made me nervous.

He wasn't one to trust and I could tell Alice and Rose both had the same feeling, but we remained in the VIP room because we sort of got the impression that if we had left it would have insulted him and he didn't seem the type to take too kindly to that.

From the VIP room with James Denali and Laurent we watched the show which was provocative and exciting. I did enjoy the show and the girls were amazing. The best part of the evening was when they handed out Bingo cards and they did a thing they called 'Burlesque Bingo.'

Two girls on the stage, one calling the numbers, one handing out prizes and taking off an article of clothing after a bingo was called.

They also had a girl walking the audience checking the validity of the bingos called. The prizes were ultimately shit but it was fun and we enjoyed watching the people below.

At two o'clock, we announced we had to leave. At first James seemed almost unwilling to let us go and that got added to the creep level.

"See you around James." I said as we walked towards the curtained off doorway.

"Yes I do hope so, but before you leave my club for the evening I do want to discuss something with you three lovely ladies." He said as he set down his glass of vodka. "I recently lost two of my employees due to personal issues and I'm looking to replace them. Would you three consider coming to Noir and working for me?"

"As what?" Alice tentatively asked.

"Well I need two waitresses and a bartender."

"All your bartenders are men." Rose stated with an expression of stone.

"Yes well…I'm thinking of trying something new." James said before eyeballing all of us and licking his lips. "I think you three would be excellent additions to the club and we would all benefit from having you work here."

"You don't even know what our experience is. We could be horrible waitresses or know nothing about bartending." I said as I shifted under his scrutiny.

"You all seem smart, I'm sure you can pick it all up rather quickly. I'll make it well worth your time. Whatever you want monetary wise will be yours, plus the tips you'll rake in will be out of this world."

"The opportunity is amazing ladies if I do say so myself." Laurent chimed in from behind us.

"Can we think about it?" Alice asked.

"Of course, but I'd like to have an answer by Friday night. I'll be at the club by 11 tomorrow and Friday night. Give them your name at the door and they'll let you in no questions asked. Felix will be guarding my room again as well and he'll recognize you so just come on up once you get here. I must be leaving now as well. I look forward to discussing your futures here at Noir." James said and then almost instantly vanished into the dark hallway.

We watched Felix disappear after James which just left a very smug looking Laurent with us in the VIP room.

"Told you he would like you." He laughed as he started cleaning up the glasses we had all left on the table. Before he too disappeared into the hallway he turned back around to us an arched an eyebrow. "You would be fools to turn this down. Tons of people would kill for a job with James."

And then he was gone too.

The car ride from Noir back to our completely unfurnished apartment was strangely quiet. Usually after a night of drinks, we're all very gabby. Some would call us loose with our mouths. Say whatever comes to mind.

Not that time.

It took us about 15 minutes to get back to the parking garage and when Alice shut the engine off, we all just sat there waiting on someone else to broach the subject we were all thinking about.

"Alright fine…are we gonna take the jobs?" Rose asked.

"He's creepy. I don't think working for him is a good idea." Alice said.

"I need the money and if he's willing to pay pretty much anything I want – then I'm willing to sport one of those skimpy numbers." I laughed.

"We can find you another job and one that doesn't involve working for James Denali. There's just something about him I don't trust. It's his eyes. There's something behind them. Something evil." Alice whispered.

"Evil?" I questioned my friend like she was crazy.

"Yes evil. Very evil." She said very seriously. "And no I can't pinpoint why I have that feeling." She interrupted as Rose began to say something.

"Ok whatever I was just…I agree. I don't trust him." Rose said.

"So…you two say no to the job offer…but of course you do it's not like you have to get a job right now…hell you probably won't ever have to work for the rest of you lives. I on the other hand need an income of sorts. I don't have a multi-million dollar trust fund to live off of." I said as I finally stepped out of the car.

Rose and Alice quickly followed.

"We don't want you working for him either!" Alice said. "Please don't go to work for him. You know we'll help with your portion of everything until you can get a job. Please please please promise me you won't go work for him though."

"I refuse to sponge off of you two again. I did it once until we got to New York and I don't plan on doing it again as long as I have a valid way to support myself."

"It's a bad idea to work for him." Rose said. "I don't know why but I just know…he reminds me of some of the guys that would show up at Peter's place. He's bad news. Plus he's just skeevy." She said with an involuntary full body shudder.

Alice and I cracked up.

"The situation is not funny." Rose scolded.

"No…it's…did you seriously say skeevy? Really?" Alice said.

"Yeah it fits perfectly! He's definitely skeevy…scumbag-ish even. I could almost envision the 80's porn mustache on him too."

"Look…fine…I won't go work for him but only because you somehow managed to use skeevy, scumbag and porn in the same sentence." I laughed.

"Scumbag-_ish_. Don't forget the "ish" part of that." Alice said as she hit the 'up' button on the elevator.

"Best part!" Rose snorted which threw us all into a giggle fit.

We were still laughing about the whole situation and making fun of Mr. James Denali when we stepped off the elevator at our floor.

It was probably the reason why we didn't immediately see the three large men lurking outside of our apartment door.

They were all leaning against the wall across the hall from our door and they were all staring in our direction.

All three of our steps faltered.

The biggest one was tall, massive, tattooed and scary looking. He had an air about him that told me no one would ever win in a fight against him. His hands were in his pockets pulling his already tight jeans even tighter making me wonder how he even fit in them in the first place. And his poor t-shirt looked to be at the breaking point from being stretched so tight against his arms.

Another one had blonde curly hair and looked less like a possible murderer than the first guy but still strong enough to hurt someone if it came down to it. And I wasn't blind, I saw the obvious bulge from a gun at the ankle. The way he was standing against the wall with his ankles crossed pulled his jeans tight enough to outline the holster. If blondie was packing then the big was too.

It also meant that the odds that the third and final potential rapist was also carrying some sort of weapon.

He was also fucking gorgeous. He was leaning against the wall as well with his right foot planted against it, hands in his pockets, looking more like Joe Cool than a criminal. He was tall but not too tall and muscled but not like Steriods next to him. The lighting in the hall was horrible and we had stopped quite a ways away from him, but his hair appeared to be a reddish color of some sort and completely disheveled like he had just woken up from a nap.

Or had just gotten done being thoroughly fucked and couldn't be bothered to run a comb through his hair.

Copper Top nodded to the other three and then they all pushed off of the wall and turned completely towards us.

They were all three absolutely gorgeous. Scary but gorgeous.

The three of us each took a small step backwards towards the elevators.

"Isabella Swan?" Copper Top questioned but I almost think he wanted it to sound more like he was stating a fact and not asking if that was my name.

I took another step backwards along with Rose and Alice.

"Wouldn't be smart if you ran." The big one said with a half smile revealing a dimple on his left cheek.

We took another step backwards anyways.

"Ladies…" The blonde said with a relatively thick southern accent as he reached for something hidden by his shirt.

I assumed it was another gun on his person.

Apparently so did Alice and Rose and we all took yet another step backwards and turned to run to the stairs.

"Isabella Swan, Rosalie Hale, and Alice Brandon, stop where you're at. You're all under arrest."

We all stopped dead in our tracks and slowly turned back around to the three men who were standing there holding three pairs of handcuffs.

They were cops and I was actually relieved by that surprise. I was the only one out of the three of us though.

"I hate you Rosalie." Alice hissed.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry this one has taken longer to get out. I had some trouble with it for some reason...**

**Well any-who, we're back to viewing the world from Edward's eyes. After this, things will start happening. It's gonna be a fun ride! Hope you stick around for it. **

**Thanks for reading! Hoping to read some reviews. I've gotten plenty of people signing up for alerts, which is FAB-U-LOUS, but only a few who have reviewed to let me know what they're thinking. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

My initial impressions of Emmett and Jasper were solidified when they wanted to discuss the case at a bar; these two guys were gonna be fucking awesome to work with.

"So…you come to this bar often?" I asked as we walked through the doors of Kilroy's Bar, a little hole the in wall place only two blocks from the office.

"Dude…is that a pickup line?" Jasper laughed shaking his head while smacking me on my back.

"No wonder you're single." Emmett laughed then waved towards the bar. "Yo! Tyler…regular plus a…wait hold on…" He yelled then turned to me. "What do you want Ed?"

"Whatever you guys are having is fine." I shrugged having absolutely no idea what I had just ordered but not really caring.

"Sweet. Make it three Tyler!" Emmett said as we slid into a corner booth by the pool tables.

"What did I just order?" I inquired.

"Sam Adams." Jasper said as a guy, who I assumed was Tyler walked up with three beers.

"That's it?"

"Well yeah man, we're still technically on the clock. Now if we come here some night to relax…that's a whole other story."

"Looking forward to it. So you live close then?" I asked as I sipped my beer.

"Just around the corner so yeah we're typically hanging out here. We live in the same apartment building…actually across the hall from each other." Emmett said then gulped down half of his beer with one chug. "So…the case."

At that point the small talk was pretty much done for the evening. I wanted to get to know the guys better but then wasn't the time. We would have plenty of time for all that bullshit later – like at stakeouts and weekends at the bar.

We had more important things to cover that night. I needed their information and they needed mine. They shared their side of the Denali case with me first. Apparently their anonymous tip that ultimately sent me to L.A. wasn't so anonymous. The man disappeared along with his girlfriend just a day prior.

Emmett and Jasper were both positive Denali was involved in that disappearance just like I knew he was behind the killing of Wilcox.

That little tidbit made it seem like the leak wasn't just in the New York City office, but from somewhere higher up. Making it an even bigger problem than originally thought.

After talking to Emmett and Jasper for quite a while, it became obvious to me that the LA office had focused the majority of their resources on locating and watching the pipeline of drugs to and from Mexico as well as keeping an eye on Denali's legit business. The New York field had me focused on Denali's personal habits and trying to get someone in undercover.

I knew previously about the legit business, but I didn't know details on it. I had no idea it was a club in Beverly Hills. I had no idea it was one of hottest weekend spots in town for the A-list crowd. It was the perfect place to move drugs in and out of. Since the celebrities and high rollers frequented the place, the cops stayed away.

It was obvious that teamed up we knew everything we needed to but we still couldn't pull it together for a bust.

"He's a ruthless murdering drug dealer and we can't tie him to anything." Emmett growled after slamming down his third glass.

"What would you say if I told you we had three possible witnesses to a multiple homicide that Denali could be behind?" I said.

"I'd say what the fuck are you talking about?" Jasper said.

"Okay so, how much do you know when it comes to why I was transferred out here for this case?"

"Just that you're the guy who's been trailing Denali in NYC." Emmett shrugged.

"I also have the background on three females that were in the apartment of my informant when he and five others were murdered gang style." I said as I pulled out the three files on Isabella, Rosalie, and Alice laying them on the table in front of my new partners.

"Whoa…who's the hot blonde?" Emmett said reaching for Rosalie's file.

"Rosalie Lilian Hale. She's 21. Date of birth is April 4th. Lived in Phoenix until she graduated high school and then she proceeded to disappear. She's five foot ten, an only child to a despicable man who is a wanted fugitive."

"Is she single?" Emmett joked.

"She's a possible witness and maybe even a suspect depending on who you talk to." I said which of course earned a curious look.

"What about…" Jasper started to ask as he picked up Alice's file. "Mary…"

"Mary Alice Brandon, but going by her history and things that her name was on, she prefers Alice. DOB is January 31st. She's 21 as well and also from Phoenix. Probably a high school friend of Rosalie's. They went to the same high school and disappeared from there at the same time. She's some what of a trouble maker apparently though. Her record was sealed when she turned 18. Since we don't have any hardcore evidence that she's a criminal now, we haven't been able to get it unsealed, yet. She's tiny but pretty sure she's a fiery one."

"Looks like it." Jasper mumbled. "Um so…why do you know so much about these ladies?" He said reaching for the final file. Isabella's file.

"I don't know…something tells me she's going to be important." I said and then when I watched their eyebrows raise questioningly I replayed in my mind what I had said. "_They're_ going to be important…to the case. To the fucking case." I sighed.

"So you didn't study the files incessantly? And your interest has nothing to do with this cute little brunette?" Emmett said looking at the file in Jasper's hands. "Isabella Marie Swan. Hmm…Edward, tell us about this one? How does she fit into the puzzle that is the girls from Arizona?"

I had two options; I could deny that I wasn't pulled in by the mysterious brunette and simply say I was good at my job. Or I could tell them exactly what the situation was.

"I have no fucking clue! So frustrating. Her dad was the chief of police in a small ass town in Washington…"

"Wait that state where it rains all the time?" Emmett interrupted.

"Yeah." I said chugging the last of my beer.

"Huh…never met anyone from Washington. Anyways…"

His tirade left me a little confused but I chalked it up to something I would eventually get used to. By Jasper's eye roll, I was on the right track.

"Her dad was a cop, her mom left and moved to Florida when she was 17. Her dad now lives in Alaska. She worked at a diner until she left when she 19 and fell off the face of the fucking Earth until reappearing in New York City years later and some how associated with Alice and Rosalie from Arizona. Where the hell is the connection there? Makes no god-damned sense at all. Brown eyes, brown hair, porcelain skin, red pouty lips. Date of birth September 13th. She's the oldest of the three. The others just turned 21 but she'll be 22 in a few months. I know she doesn't use her cell phone except to call her dad in Alaska and her mom in Florida. And I have absolutely no idea how she ended up with Alice and Rosalie." I said pretty much in one long breath.

"Hmmm…well I can tell you what they all have in common." Jasper said.

"Besides being incredibly attractive." I said with sarcasm.

"Wasn't even going to go there." He laughed. "No, they all disappeared within a week of each other meaning either they got caught up in something they weren't supposed to or they somehow knew each other from the get go and met well before NYC. Any idea where they are now?"

"Um…yeah." I said for some reason not really wanting to tell them where they were.

"Care to share buddy." Emmett laughed.

"They rented an apartment just down the road a ways…off of Santa Monica."

"Fucking kidding me? Well let's go talk to them…" he said as he stood up.

"Emmett it's like midnight." Jasper laughed.

"That's an issue and well…I'm under orders that…I have to arrest them if I see them. Remember, they're wanted for questioning in the murder of Peter Wilcox and five others." I sighed.

We sat there quiet for a few minutes. I wasn't sure what they were thinking about, but I knew what I was thinking.

We had to go get them. I knew where they were and it was my job to take them in. It was my ass on the line if I let possible murderers go just because they were pretty.

"Personally I wouldn't mind slapping some handcuffs on Rosalie." Emmett snorted.

"Fucking hell McCarty." Jasper laughed.

"What? Like you weren't sitting here thinking the same damn thing about that little one you've got your eye on. And we know Cullen's thinking dirty thoughts about the brunette."

"There's something wrong with you. Something terribly wrong with you." I said as I stood up from the table. "Come on…let's settle the bills, head back to the office, make a plan, and then go pick up the girls. They should be home…they're new to the city and it's a weeknight."

"You don't know jack shit about this city." Jasper said as he stood to follow. "And there's only one bill tonight. McCarty owes me a night and you're new."

"I'm footing tonight? What the hell!" Emmett whined throwing his hands in the air before walking over to the bar to pay.

Back at the office the plan we devised wasn't exactly the plan of a master mind. We were just going to simply knock on their door and hope that they willingly came with us.

It was a good plan and it probably would have worked if when we got to their apartment they had been home.

"Now what the hell do we do?" I asked as I leaned against the wall across the hall from their door.

"Well, we can wait here and see if they come home tonight." Emmett suggested as he leaned next to me.

"We could do that or we could leave, stake the place out for a while." Jasper said as he leaned he against the wall too.

"Yeah that might be a good idea too. Jasper's ideas are usually best."

As we stood there contemplating our options we neglected to keep watch for the girls actually arriving. We missed the sound of the elevator doors opening and if they had been Denali we would have been dead. It wasn't until the drunk girlie giggling started that all three of us looked up from our posts against the wall.

At the same time I realized what we might have looked like to three young women it was too late to do anything about it. And judging by their wide eyes and faltered steps, they thought exactly what I thought they would.

They started retreating slowly, one step at a time and I knew we needed to say something to identify ourselves, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Isabella. We weren't very close to them, but it was close enough for me to tell clearly that the picture in her file did absolutely nothing to capture what she really looked liked. It also hadn't shown her body.

And man did she have an amazing little body. She was petite but still _soft._ The shorts she was wearing were tight and tiny, as was the tank top she was wearing. I was mesmerized by her and I think I heard myself say her name, but it wasn't because I wanted to say it.

My mouth spouted off before my brain could control it and from there it went downhill fast. Both Emmett and Jasper said something to them, but they continued to backup and then they turned away from us. The next thing I knew, I was saying their names and stating they were under arrest.

If I hadn't had to put handcuffs on Isabella, I might have found the looks Alice was shooting Rosalie funny.

Emmett found them funny though. Of course that was before Rosalie shot him a look of her own.

I knew what was going on around me, _sort of_, but I just couldn't take my eyes away from Isabella's. It might have been easier, except she wasn't looking away from me either. Her eyes seemed like they were searching for some sort of answer though while mine probably just looked like I was in some sort of trance.

Which I was.

It wasn't until the sound of the cuffs clicking closed on Alice sounded in the empty hallway that we snapped out of whatever it was that was holding us in our gaze.

"Mary Alice Brandon, you're under arrest. There's an outstanding warrant on you. You're wanted in questioning for the murder of Peter Wilcox." Jasper said completely professional.

"And you are?" Alice asked smiling really big up at Jasper. Jasper shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat before finally answering.

"Agent Jasper Whitlock of the DEA, miss."

"Hmmm…"

"Jesus Alice! We're getting fucking arrested and you're flirting with the damn cop." Rosalie said as Emmett clicked the cuffs on her as well.

"What? It's not my fault! If we had just stayed in the fucking apartment like…"

"Shut up!" Isabella shouted actually causing me to jump. "Shut the fuck up! They think _we_ killed Peter and until we get a lawyer…shut up." She finished as she held out her hands to me with an expectant scowl.

I'm pretty sure I felt my balls shrivel up and go into hiding with that one look.

I carefully placed the cuffs on Isabella and then we escorted them down to Jasper's waiting SUV and helped them in. We had Alice and Rosalie get in the middle seats, Isabella and I in the back seat, with Jasper driving and Emmett riding shot gun.

Emmett had buckled Alice and Rosalie into their seats, but only I could get to Isabella's seatbelt. It required me to lean across her and it was damn impossible not to graze my arm across her tits…and instantly I was no longer in an SUV. I was imaging her in my bed in multiple positions – wearing nothing but the handcuffs she was currently in.

It wasn't until her light chuckle and the slight clearing of her throat that I snapped back to reality and realized I was lingering across her, my face right next to hers.

"Sorry." I mumbled and then sat back before scooting as far away from her as I could get.

"So…" Alice's voice filled the quiet SUV. "I know that fine southern gentleman is Agent Jasper Whitlock of the DEA, but who are the other two."

Emmett turned around in his seat with a shit eating grin on his face. "Agent Emmett McCarty, DEA and the quiet one in the back is our newest member, all the way from New York City, Agent Edward Cullen DEA."

"New York?" Rosalie asked almost hesitantly as she turned around to face me. I just nodded in response then glanced over at Isabella who was once again eying me curiously.

The rest of the ride was quiet, which I appreciated. I had to get my thoughts straight to figure out how we were going to interrogate these three.

Once we got to the office and parked, I hopped out without unbuckling Isabella because I knew we needed to figure out what we doing from this point forward. Jasper and Emmett clearly had the same thought as I did because they got out of the car at the same time I did and walked to the front.

"Don't leave me alone with Alice." Jasper said.

"What?" Emmett and I both laughed.

"She'll pounce the second I give her the opportunity." He laughed.

"Pretty sure you really wouldn't mind that." I said

"I was thinking we should interrogate all three at the same time anyways." Emmett said still laughing.

It was actually a pretty good idea. Not the usual technic but seeing how it wasn't a typical situation, we needed to think outside of the box. And being that it was three o'clock in the morning, we would be the only ones in the office so it wasn't like we were going to get questioned on our approach.

"Works for me. Should we take them to our actual interrogation room?" I asked.

"I was thinking the conference room instead. Might make them a little more open to talk without a lawyer here. I don't wanna wait until the morning when a lawyer can get here." Jasper suggested.

We all agreed on his line of thinking and then returned to the SUV to help the ladies out and escort them up to our conference room.

It, again, was a quiet ride, this time in the elevator. The girls seemed to be communicating silently though, which caused us to be nervous. The obvious planning they were doing made me question their innocence for the first time since the whole ordeal went down.

"Why aren't you taking us to an interrogation room?" Alice question as ushered them to the much more comfortable and welcoming room a floor below our actual office.

"We thought this would be better for all of us." Emmett grinned. "Please have a seat." He gestured towards three chairs on the far side of the table as he pulled his handcuff keys out of his pocket.

Jasper and I followed suit and then removed all of their handcuffs.

"Water?" Jasper asked. They didn't verbally respond, but all three nodded their heads.

"Can we get you anything else?" I asked.

"Why are you being so nice to us? You think we killed Peter." Rosalie asked.

"They're trying to butter us up so that we'll talk without a lawyer here." Isabella said with a little huff at the end. "It's not going to fucking work."

"Neither is being Betty Bad Ass." Alice said pointedly. "I have nothing to hide, I wave my right to a lawyer. Ask away…I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Both Isabella and Rosalie rolled their eyes, sighed, and then hung their heads.

"Okay, Alice…did you three kill Peter Wilcox or anyone else in the apartment in New York City?" I asked.

"Nope." She said way too cheerfully for their situation.

"If you're not guilty, why did you skip town?" Jasper asked.

"Rose convinced us it was best because if we ended up in witness protection Jay would find us and kill us too."

"Who the fuck is Jay?" Emmett asked.

"The guy who killed Peter." Rosalie chimed in. I exchanged a sideways glance to Emmett and Jasper trying to see if they were thinking the same thing that ran through my mind. They both just seemed to be confused.

"Did you hear anyone call him anything else? At any point?" I asked.

"No." All three of them answered that time.

"Look…you want the story…here's the whole thing…" Isabella said and then they began to regale us with the entire story of that night in New York City up until they moved into the apartment in Los Angeles and where they had been before we showed up to arrest them.

"Wait you were at Club Noir tonight?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah…we thought it was just a nice bar in Beverly Hills…no idea what it really was." Alice laughed.

"Or that the creepy owner was going to offer us jobs." Isabella snorted.

"Shit!" Emmett, Jasper, and I all said. Emmett started pacing. Jasper started mumbling to himself while pacing in the opposite direction that Emmett was. And I just completely stopped moving except for the constant nervous pulling at my hair.

We had an opportunity here, and we all knew it, but it meant that we were going to have to ask these three women sitting in front of us to do something that might kill them.

Would they be willing to?

But more importantly, would we be able to actually ask them to do it?


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Bella's point of view! Let me know what you're thinking. :) **

**As always - thanks so much for reading!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

The manner in which the three guys had left the conference room had kept the three of us in stunned silence. We weren't even sure what had set them all off.

After Alice ignorantly waived her right to a fucking attorney, Rose and I had little choice but to follow suit so we had started telling them what they wanted to know.

Apparently something they had thought they wanted to know turned out to be something they didn't want to know at all. We had told them everything from the point of arriving in New York City up until the club – just like they wanted us to tell them. But as soon as I had mentioned the job offer, they all immediately freaked out.

They started pacing the room, or in Edward's case, pulling at his gorgeous hair, and then Emmett stopped suddenly and in a harsh voice that scared the shit out of me, ordered the other two to follow him. They left the room, shutting the door behind them, and walked across the office.

We couldn't hear a damn thing but we could see them and it didn't look like they were discussing sports.

It was definitely an argument of sorts because hand gestures that demonstrate frustration and anger were rapidly being thrown around from all directions.

"It's too fucking late for this bullshit." Rose sighed as the three of us continued to stare out the windows of the conference room to the three fuckhot DEA agents.

"I just want to go to sleep. It's 4 in the damn morning." Alice said.

"What do you think they're talking about?" I asked looking towards my friends for the first time since the boys had left the room.

"No idea but I know that if they don't hurry up and end their bickering, I'm just going to get up and leave. See if they stop me." Rose snorted.

"Oh they can stop you and they will stop you. I promise you that. We have warrants out…"

"But they've questioned us and we've told them everything we know." Alice interrupted.

"Well yeah but until they decide we're no longer persons of interest, they can hold us." I said turning my attention back to the three men who were still arguing.

We turned quiet again and focused back on the men in the hallway. It was another 10 or so minutes before the silence was broken again, this time by Alice.

"You know what I don't understand?"

"How someone could wear white after Labor Day and think it truly is okay." I sarcastically said earning a chuckled from Rose and a death glare from Alice.

"You know that's a sensitive subject to me." She huffed. "No what I don't understand is that the murder happened in New York City, right? So why did a _New York_ DEA agent transfer out to _LA_? Surly not just for us? They could have had the LA guys pick us up and send us back to New York, but no. Edward came to LA and now we're being questioned here instead of the state where the murder happened."

The pixie had made an interesting point. Why hadn't they just had Emmett and Jasper pick us up? Why had they sent Edward out after us? We weren't good suspects. It didn't make sense for us to be the murders and I'm pretty sure at least Edward knew we hadn't killed anyone. In that mindset, we were only witnesses and just under questioning so why send a New York agent across the country for us?

There was something deeper going on that we weren't privy to. Something that somehow involved us.

"Something's going on and I'm gonna find out what it is." I said as I stood up from my seat.

"Where are you going?" Rose asked as she stood up too.

"Talk to the assholes and find out what's really going on here."

As I headed out of the conference room towards the boys, I wasn't at all surprised to find Rose and Alice behind me. I was surprised that I was the one actually willing to confront them.

As we approached the boys, they were so engrossed in their argument that they had no clue we were even approaching. The closer we got the more evident it became that the conversation was definitely a heated discussion.

And from the half of a sentence we heard, it was about us.

"…not going in…they're not trained!" Edward growled.

"What other choice do we have?" Emmett responded, obviously frustrated.

"What about the fact that everyone who goes against him ends up…" Jasper said but cut off as soon as he saw the three of us.

"Ends up what?" Alice asked.

None of them responded. In fact they all instantly looked like little boys who were caught by their mothers doing something they weren't supposed to be. They dropped their heads and began fiddling with their fingers, and absolutely refused to look us in the eyes. Any of us.

"_Who_ ends up _what_?" Rose said through clenched teeth.

"Alright…so we told you our story…I believe it is time that the three of you start talking. Clearly something is going on and it involves us somehow. I believe we have the right to know." Alice said.

Edward looked to his left towards Jasper and then to his right at Emmett before nodding his head and taking a deep breath.

"Maybe we should all go back into the conference room and discuss the situation we seem to have found ourselves in."

"Ya think?" The three of us said before turning around and heading back to the conference room.

As we walked backed, I tried to come up with an explanation for everything. I tried to figure out what we were going to be faced with next.

The problem was I couldn't get the look on Edward's face out of my head. I would probably never be able to forget it. He looked so torn. He looked absolutely miserable.

The green of eyes was dimmer than it had been just hours earlier in the SUV. He was waging a war internally and for some fucking crazy reason, it made me feel absolutely useless not being able to help him.

I knew the second I saw him in the hallway outside of our apartment, I was going to have a problem on my hands. Edward was going to cause me some sort of pain. I just could tell it.

And when he and the others began regaling us with the details of James Denali and the drug scene that we had somehow found ourselves in the middle of, it was confirmed that I was right.

I…_we_ were in a huge amount of trouble.

We not only witnessed the murder of Peter and five others in New York, we had witnessed the murder allegedly committed by James Denali. We then managed to aligned ourselves with the same guy on the opposite side of the country and get him to offer us jobs in his club.

A club which is a legal front to his drug operations. A club which the guys seem to think is where he moves some of his product.

We had some shitty luck that's for sure.

Inadvertently we had put ourselves in the perfect position to work as assets for the DEA.

"We have a leak." Jasper said.

"A leak?" Rose asked.

"Someone within the agency is on Denali's payroll. I had flipped Wilcox less than 24 hours before Denali gunned him down. We hadn't even had time to setup surveillance on his apartment." Edward said.

"And then here, we had a tip that Denali had moved back to LA and was no longer in NYC. A day later, the guy who tipped us and his girlfriend disappeared." Emmett said.

"Did they work at Noir?" I asked.

"I would have to pull the file on the tip, but I believe after they disappeared, we dug deeper and found that he was a bartender and she was a waitress."

"And that would be why they're now short staffed." I mumbled.

"So a leak? Basically if we go undercover for you guys, we'll be dead as soon as the paperwork is filed for the undercover operation." Alice said.

"Pretty much. Which is why I think it is absolutely out of the question." Jasper said looking only at Alice.

"But I think we have no choice but to put you three in place inside Denali's operations. Let you get close to him. We have to take him down. No matter what…" Emmett stupidly said.

"So _us_ _dying_ would just be par for the course then." Rose said narrowing her eyes at Emmett.

"Yes…no! No! Not par for the course. We have a job to do…we have to take him down by any means necessary. I'm not happy about the route we have to take, trust me…not happy about it all…" He said as he eyed Rose then winked at her.

"And Agent Cullen…what seems to be the battle going on inside of your brain?" I asked.

"Um well…I agree with Emmett that we really need to get you in undercover, but I'm refusing to ask you to do it. And I'm definitely not in agreement on putting the operation on the books."

"I'm confused." The three of us said.

"I don't want you to go in and therefore I'm not going to ask you to do it. If this operation somehow happens…" he said as he eyed Emmett evilly, "I'm on the side of the argument that we don't actually report it to our bosses and we do the whole thing ourselves. We run it completely under the table."

"But if we do that and something happens, you'll just be three more victims of Denali. We won't be able to acknowledge your work on the case. You'll be nameless victims." Jasper said.

"You're doing a shitty job convincing us to do this for you." I said.

"I'm not trying to." Edward said.

"I am. Look…here's the cold hard truth. If we do what we're supposed to do, you're going to be held for a while. After that, you're going to be given a choice…either go in undercover or be put in the witness protection program. If this happens, you'll be in our system. The guy or girl on Denali's payroll will hand over your information and you'll be dead." Emmett said while pacing nervously. "I don't want you guys to go in either, but…and as ass backwards as it sounds…you going in undercover with only the three of us knowing, is your best chance in the situation you've somehow managed to get yourselves in."

I hated it, but if Emmett was telling the truth he was right. I knew that if they truly did have a leak in the agency then us being put in witness protection by them was the last thing we needed. If James ever found out that three of us were in that apartment in New York, we were going to end up just like Peter.

Our luck just seemed to be getting worse.

Pretty much no matter what we did, we were taking a chance with our lives.

"Just how dangerous is James?" Rose asked.

"He's nasty. He is the biggest distributer of cocaine on the west coast…and making a pretty decent bid for the title on the east coast." Jasper said.

"He's south of the boarder too. He's a smart person and business man unfortunately. He covers his tracks well and it has made it impossible for us to tie him directly to anything illegal. He's killed more than just the three we've told you about and we're sure if given the chance, he do anything that served his ultimate goal." Edward said.

"I told you his eyes were evil." Alice whispered.

"We really don't have a choice." Rose said looking at me.

"It doesn't sound like it. It sounds like we might be the only solution." I said back to her before looking at Edward. "It's pretty sad that with all your training and all your resources, you have to rely on three girls."

"So we're going this?" Alice asked.

"Yeah we'll do this." Rose and I answered.

"We're not asking you to…" Jasper said.

"Yes you are, you're just not saying the actual words. We don't have a choice. We either die on his terms or we give ourselves a slight advantage." Alice said.

"We have to give him our response by Friday night. Is it too optimistic to hope for some sort of plan by then?" I asked.

"No. Let's all head home and then we'll meet up later to form a plan of some sort." Emmett said as the three of them began to walk out of the conference room.

It was like us girls all thought the same thing at the same time. We turned to each other with raised eyebrows before turning back to the retreating forms of the boys.

"We need a ride home." Alice said putting her hands on her hips. "Remember? You arrested us outside of our apartment door at 3 o'clock this morning."

They stopped walking and turned around to face us.

"We know. Just figured you'd follow us out." Edward shrugged. "Come on ladies."

Apparently when not working, Emmett is a chatterbox. He talked non-stop the whole way back to our apartment but not about anything we cared about. He just went on and on about nothing. It was like he was purposely avoiding talking about the only thing the six of us had to talk about.

James Denali.

By the time we got back to our apartment building it was almost 6 in the morning. We directed Jasper to pull into the garage and towards the elevator so we could just go straight up and to our door.

The boys insisted on walking with us though, which seemed stupid but it was pointless to argue with them. That much was made evident when Edward threw an absolute fit and started all but yelling at us when we tried to say goodbye at the car. He was spouting bullshit about making sure we made inside the apartment safe.

We still hadn't made a definite plan on when to get together so when we got upstairs to our door, we invited them.

Not that we had much to offer them there. No place to sit. Nothing to drink, but it was 6 in the morning and we just wanted to get an idea of what they were thinking for later in the day.

"Where the hell is all your stuff?" Emmett boomed.

"In a truck waiting for delivery sometime tomorrow afternoon." Rose said.

"We just moved here, remember? You've been tracking us so I know you know that." I said eyeing Edward. "By the way, we have a ton of questions there."

"Can't really talk about." Edward said.

"But you're gonna." Alice grinned.

"You guys can't sleep here tonight." Jasper said.

"And where do you suggest we sleep then?" Alice said seductively causing the boy poor to stutter and start fiddling with his hand.

"We're fine here. We just need to know when and where you want to meet us to go over a plan…or form a plan." I said.

"We'll call you tomorrow. Since you're expecting deliveries we'll come back to you." Edward said as the three of them headed back towards the door.

"Don't you need our number?" Rose asked.

"Oh we have it already…well Edward has Isabella's number anyways." Emmett dismissively said. "Probably memorized." He mumbled but not very quietly.

"It's my job." Edward quickly added but with the smirks from Jasper and Emmett it was obvious something else was going on.

"Okay so Rosalie, Alice, Isabella…" Edward said as they inched closer to the door.

"Okay we gotta stop that bullshit right there." Rose laughed.

"Huh?" All three of them said.

"Rosalie and Isabella? Too formal." She laughed.

"Must have been reading our files." I smiled. "Call us Rose and Bella. Alice is Ali usually…or Pixie Bitch or Fashion Nazi…or…"

"Ha…ha…ha. Very funny." Alice said rolling her eyes at me as I opened the door for the boys and they walked through it.

"Good night." Rose, Alice, and I said to them.

"Good morning." Jasper grinned before the three of them took off back towards the elevators.

As soon as they disappeared from our sight, Rose closed the door and then sighed dreamily.

"Oh no." Alice said.

"I know that they're risking our lives for their careers, but Emmett is so fucking sexy. Those tattoos and those muscles…and the dimples…"

"We get it. You think he's hot." Alice laughed.

"You have no room to talk missy. You were drooling all over that southern gentleman." I said as I pulled a blanket and pillow from one of our shopping bags. "I thought you were gonna just jump him when he first put those handcuffs on you."

"I wanted to. Mental note that Jasper Whitlock and handcuffs is a must after we settle this whole drug dealer murderer thing."

"Slut!" I laughed.

"Oh yeah? What about Copper Top?" Rose asked wiggling her eyebrows at me. "Can't tell me you didn't have dirty thoughts about _Agent Cullen_."

"The man shouldn't be allowed to leave his house. He's just indecent."

That got a few chuckles from the girls, but ultimately we passed out within minutes of laying down in the living room.

It wasn't an easy sleep though. We all tossed and turned the whole night. My dreams were dark and scary and I woke multiple times with a start, trying to catch my breath. I knew it was only the beginning of what was to be expected for the foreseeable future.

From the moment we agreed to go undercover, we waived our right to a stress free life.

I really wanted to call my father and get his opinion, but I knew I couldn't do that. I knew that pretty much all contact with my parents was done until this whole situation cleared itself up.

There was a bunch of aspects and things that I'm sure we hadn't thought of at that point and none of it was good I was sure of it.

Part of me was extremely pissed at Rose for making us leave New York City and eventually putting us in the position we were in, but the other part of me knew that if it hadn't been for Rose we probably would have been dead already due to the leak in the DEA. Instead we were now basically under the protection of three men who seemed like they'd protect us to the death if need be – which they'd probably have to do at some point during this operation.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Took way longer to get this written and posted than I wanted but as all of you know, real life has a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it. I'm hoping that everything slows down and the next chapter won't take me as long to get it written. **

**Thanks for sticking with me on it!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

The ride back to the office from the girls' apartment was surprisingly quiet. It might have been the fact that it was 6 in the morning and the sun was beginning to peak up over the horizon in the east but I had a feeling it was more because we were all in deep thought.

We had covered a lot of information during the informal – and not completely by the rules – interrogation of the three girls, but there was still a ton more information we needed from them and that they needed from us. All of which had to be covered before we put them into Denali's path.

And as much as we needed to cover _that stuff_, I really wanted to just pretend that we didn't have a huge life threatening issue at hand and talk about _who _Bella really was.

I wanted to know her favorite music. I wanted to know what her childhood nickname was. I wanted to know if she had an invisible friend growing up. I wanted to know everything!

All that would have to wait though because the next time I was going to see her, we would be discussing the plan to get them close to a murderer.

"What the hell are we thinking putting them in the path of a murderer." I said breaking the silence.

"I don't fucking know man." Emmett said scrubbing his hands over his face.

"What the fuck Em! You're the one who insisted on having them do it!" Jasper said nearly swerving off the road.

"The more I think about it though the more I think we should hold off on putting them in there. What if a week after they go in, we find another option to get the information. What if we just wait to make sure we've exhausted all options before we risk their lives?"

"That was my argument from the get go!" Jasper raged. "Alice is too fragile…_they_ are all too fragile…"

"Don't let them hear you say that. They'll have your balls on a silver platter." I said.

"Fragile might not be the perfect word…but they don't know how to act in certain situations. What if they're questioned and can't talk themselves out of the accusations? God forbid James graduates to…"

"Don't even say it." I said as we pulled up to the station.

"Screw the law, I'll kill the bastard without a trial." Emmett said as we all stepped out of the SUV.

I wouldn't have put it past him because it was exactly what I would have done too. We would be fighting over who would pull the trigger.

We stood around Jasper's truck staring at each other – all three with the same confused, frustrated, painful looks on our faces. We were all battling the same internal fight.

I had only actually known Bella for five hours, and yet I felt like I'd known her my whole life. I felt like we were connected in some sort of sappy romance movie sort of way. Without consciously knowing it, I accepted the role of Bella's protector. And I knew without a doubt I would willingly give my life to save hers. I knew I would, without hesitation, kill a man for hurting her.

I was scared shitless.

Pretty sure Jasper and Emmett were too, which made it easier in some sort of fucked up way.

We all gave strangled half smiles before parting ways knowing that we would be meeting up at the office again after a measly six hours rest.

Not that sleep would come to me at all. It was a joke that I thought I would be able to.

Apparently the guys couldn't either because when I pulled up to the office an hour earlier than we discussed at 11, they were both sitting on the steps outside sipping coffee's, hoodies pulled up over their heads and dark sunglasses on.

"Nice ride." Jasper mumbled around his coffee.

"Thanks. It was my first car, but when I moved out to NYC, my uncle kept it for me."

"You're driving." Emmett said as he stood up. "And you're riding in the back." He added to Jasper as she opened the passenger side door.

"Any idea on a plan?" I asked.

"Not a damn clue." They both said going back to their coffees.

"Where the fuck is _my_ coffee." I said smirking at my new friends.

"Shove it up your ass Cullen." Emmett laughed and then the car fell quiet again.

It wasn't until I pulled into a spot on the street opposite of the lobby door at the apartment building that a word was spoken.

"Cullen, did you text the girls to make sure it was okay that we were here this early?"

Of course I hadn't. Between being worried about putting the girls in undercover to not sleeping, I hadn't even thought of sending a message to Bella. I didn't bother responding to Jasper, it was obvious I hadn't called Bella so I just pulled my phone out of my pocket.

_You girls awake? - Edward_

_Unfortunately…been up since 10. Why? – B_

_Wanting to get started on a plan. Downstairs. – E_

And then we waited almost five minutes for a response.

_Delivery guys still here. Give us 20. – B_

After receiving the last message, I looked around and saw absolutely no delivery truck.

"You guys hungry?" I asked the boys with a sigh.

"Why?"

"Cause the girls need 20 to get ready before we can go upstairs."

"Sure…there's a deli just down the street. We can grab a sandwich while we wait." Emmett said.

_K. Going to get lunch at the deli down the street. U girls want anything? – E_

"Come on let's head that way." I said then got out of the car and headed in the direction Emmett had pointed. As we got to the deli, Bella finally answered with their orders ending the conversation with a promise to pay us.

There was no way in hell those girls were paying for shit and that was a unanimous decision.

The other unanimous decision we made while getting our food was that we were going to try and talk the girls out of doing the undercover work – or at least hold off on it for now.

I was pretty sure it was going to be a pointless argument but it was something we needed to at least try with the girls.

When we returned back to their building, we entered through the front door like we had before, and headed back towards the girls apartment.

It was a like a damn maze getting back to their building. We felt like we needed a damn GPS system just to find it. I was surprised we had found it the first time. The second time wasn't really any easier. It took us almost an additional 10 minutes to get from the lobby door to their apartment door.

"Started to think you boys changed your minds." Rose smirked as she opened the door.

"Need a map for this place." Emmett said as we stepped into the apartment.

"Yeah…we're still getting used to it too. Good thing we can park down in the garage right at our elevators or we'd never find out way back…or at least Bella wouldn't." Alice said as she appeared from what I assumed to be her bedroom to our left.

It was then I realized Bella wasn't in the living room.

"Shut the hell up Ali!" Bella shouted form somewhere in the apartment unseen by us. "Got our food Cullen?"

"Uh…yeah." I said holding up the take-out bags and looking around but scattered amongst the haphazardly strewn about furniture she was nowhere to be found.

"How much do we owe you?" Rose asked.

"They're on us." Jasper spoke for the first time. "It's the least we could do."

"Well I suppose that's true." Bella laughed as she finally appeared from the hallway off to our right. "I'm starving…let's eat and then get down to business."

There were only two pieces of furniture that were in the places that appeared to be their final resting places; the huge ass TV on the wall across from one of the most comfortable looking couches I'd ever seen.

It was where the girls sat down to eat motioning for us to make ourselves comfortable wherever we decided. Emmett grabbed the chair leaving Jasper and I with the floor, barstools, or kitchen table chairs.

"Clearly everything's a mess. You're all earlier than we thought you'd be…as were the fucking delivery men so we haven't had a chance to really do much of anything." Alice said as she took a huge ass bit of her sandwich.

While the girls made quicker work of their food than us guys did, we made small talk – and nothing about why we were even there.

We found out how they all came to be friends, which was a completely crazy story and if it had been anyone else I wouldn't have believed them. The way Alice and Rose met made sense – I mean they went to the same high school. They didn't provide too many personal details, like family, but we knew Rose's father was a fugitive and Alice had a criminal past. But neither of them seemed too keen on the idea of telling us the details.

When we asked Bella about herself, she shied away details as well simply stating that her life was boring. Life in a small town was too boring for her and when she graduated high school, she left. She was going east anyways when Rose and Alice happened to swing into her life.

From there we knew the story.

And when they got nosey and started asking us about our lives, we immediately changed the subject to Denali.

Surprisingly it was Jasper who jumped on the subject change though, which caused me to throw a curious glance to Emmett, but he seemed just as relieved for the change as I was.

It wasn't that I didn't want to share my past with Bella, but I definitely didn't want to broach it at that particular time.

"So about what we've asked you girls to do…" Jasper began, "we're thinking we should hold off at least another week to see if another, safer, option presents itself…"

"No way in hell." Rose said shaking her head. "First of all, we've already gotten ourselves worked up for it. Second of all, you're not going to get a better option and you know it…"

"Most importantly our job offers expire at Noir tonight. We have to give James an answer tonight or we lose the opportunity." Bella interrupted.

"Damn it." I said.

We didn't have time to delay them going in undercover. That was it. That was our only option and we had absolutely no time to fully prepare for it. They were going in and they were starting that night.

"With your silence, we're assuming this is still a go." Alice said.

"Apparently." Emmett mumbled.

"Okay…what do we do now?" Rose said grinning.

They seemed honestly excited about the prospect of working with us to nail Denali. It was good, but at the same time bad because that meant they wanted to do it so they'd be more apt to get themselves into trouble.

"First step is to get you girls trained the best we can." I said.

"Trained in what?" Bella asked.

"For starters shooting a gun in case it comes down to it." Jasper said obviously unhappy about it.

"Hmm…well we all already know how to do that." Rose said thoughtfully.

Somehow that didn't come at all as a surprise to me. I wasn't thrilled with the idea but I definitely wasn't surprised. I had already begun expecting the unexpected when it came to those three girls.

"Next then?" Alice asked.

"Suppose we need to make sure you can lie your way into the good graces of Denali." Emmett said.

"Don't think that will be a problem either." Bella remarked almost shyly. "We're not proud of it, but due to our circumstances in New York we got rather capable at lying."

"Even if held at gun point? You think you can maintain your calmness and make the lie believable?" I asked.

"Cause it is possible it could come down to that. If Denali somehow gets tipped off that you're working with us, it could go that far." Jasper said almost menacingly.

"Can you?" Rose asked with a raise of one of her eyebrows. "All the training in the world can't prepare you 100 percent for that kind of situation. Only a fool wouldn't be affected if a gun was pointed at their head."

"Anything is possible when one's life is on the line. Pretty sure we don't have a need for any type of training. It would be better for us anyways if we didn't have official training – seem more like regular people, right?" Alice asked.

"This is not a movie girls…you are not Vin Diesel…this is real life." I said.

"No shit Sherlock." Bella said while glaring at me. "Just tell us what we need to do once we're in."

"You need to get him to trust you with his secrets. You need to get him to invite you into his personal life…be a part of his organization. And you have to do whatever it takes. Promise whatever you have to in order to get details back to us." Emmett said.

"Well…that won't be too hard. He's already got a thing for Bella." Rose laughed.

"He WHAT?" I said as I stood from my seat on one of the barstools. I did not like it one bit. Not at all. I was furious and inexplicably jealous. It was insane to be jealous, I knew this. There was no way Bella returned his feelings…

Or I guess she could have. I still didn't know her from Eve. It was possible still that they were working with Denali and this was a ploy to get us off them. We hadn't really broached that subject with the girls.

We had merely taken their word for it that they hadn't been a part of that shooting in New York.

"What's going on in that handsome head of yours?" Bella whispered suddenly appearing besides me. It caused me to jump a little to the side before looking down into her remarkable deep brown eyes. She grinned but said nothing more waiting on me to respond.

"Um…I…was just thinking that we really don't even know if we can trust you." I said before realizing I had answered her truthfully.

To my shock though, she just smirked.

"Honestly, I suppose you can't really trust us. But I believe you're gonna have to do just that. We're not fans of Denali…we considered Peter a friend and if he's as bad as you say he is and is capable of what you think he is, then someone needs to take him down. If that has to be us, then so be it."

"But what if you die in the process?" I merely mumbled.

"Then I hope you will revenge our deaths." She winked before turning around to face the four people who were staring at us intently. "Okay so we've gotten as far as us knowing we have to get close to him – which was pretty self-explanatory if you ask me – what's next?"

"We haven't gotten that far yet." Jasper laughed.

"So really you haven't got anything because so far what you have told us is basic." Alice grinned calling us out on our bullshit.

"It's not like we've had a lot of time to come with anything." He countered.

"How are you guys going to keep an eye on us?" Bella asked. "Can't expect us to wear wires or anything like that since I'm sure he'd check for that."

"How are we going to report details back to you? What if he keeps a tail on us?" Rose asked.

"We'll have to wait and see how he acts around you guys before we can make plans on how to report back to us." Emmett said.

"I don't expect him to keep too close of an eye on you though, as he has no reason yet to suspect anything." I said.

"Okay – but how close are you three going to be to us?" Alice asked. "Or are you not going to be there at all?" She finished finally showing some sort of nervousness.

"Off the top of my head, I'm thinking us three get fake ID's and go in as possible buyers. We'll need some heavy ID's though and deep cover shit…it will be hard since we're doing this off the grid but I have a prior associate that might be able to assist us." Jasper said.

"How much time will you need to get us what is needed?" I asked him.

"Two weeks possibly. Depending on what else he's working on and of course this is if he's willing to help me. We didn't exactly part on good terms."

"That gives us two weeks to work in Noir without any possible distractions or anything that might blow our cover." Rose said.

"We'll need some way to get funding too. At some point we'll need it if we have to convince Denali we're true buyers." I said.

"That's easy enough." Alice said dismissively.

The three of us looked at each other then back to the girls before nodding our heads in agreement. The thought of using their money wasn't one we relished in, but at the time it was the only option so none of us wanted to argue.

It was official then, the girls were going in undercover for us. Not even for the DEA, no they weren't going in undercover as part of an official investigation. They were going in and the only people who knew about it was Emmett, Jasper, and I. If something were to go wrong, we were the only three that would be able to save them.

The girls nodded as well then jumped up from their seats before thoughtfully looking around their apartment.

"Wanna help us move furniture around or do you have prior engagements?" Bella asked looking at me firs before glancing at Jasper and Emmett.

"I just need to make a phone call to arrange for the IDs for us." Jasper said then headed towards the balcony doors.

"No plans for me." He said then looked at Rose. "So where's your bedroom furniture that needs moving?" He said wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Pig." She said but laughed then walked down the hall that Bella had come from when we first arrived.

Of course Emmett followed close behind.

We stayed well after dinner time, ordered takeout, ate dinner together, helped the girls hook up their electronics, and then proceeded to keep ourselves occupied with the XBox Kinect they had purchased to go along with their TV as they got ready for their first night of work at Noir.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: I had really wanted to get this posted over the weekend but I'm hoping Wednesday is okay! I'll be otu of town this weekend so I know I won't be able to post again for at least a week and half - possible two weeks. **

**We're really ramping up in the story now! Hope you enjoy this piece. And please excuse any typos...I wrote this while at work today and between keeping an eye out for the internet police and helping coworkers with questions, I was slightly distracted. :-)**

**~Tiff**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

Spending the day with the guys had been fun and I had forgotten at one point why they had even been at our apartment in the first place. That was until I was reminded we had to get ready to start our new jobs.

My mood had instantly taken a huge downward turn. I wanted nothing more than stay in the apartment, comfortably dressed, hanging out with Edward and getting to know him – well getting to know all of them better.

There was a past to each of them, and while I wanted to know how Emmett became Emmett and who Jasper's contacts were, I really wanted to know how Edward came to be a part of the DEA.

There was something hiding behind his gorgeous green eyes. He had done a really great job of stuffing it deep down and ignoring it, but it was there.

The obvious change in topic when we asked about their history wasn't missed by me and therefore I also knew it hadn't been missed by Alice or Rose either.

At 8 it was decided by Alice that it was time for us to get ready for the evening. We left the boys to their own devices in our newly arranged living room while we prepared for the evening.

As I was scanning my poorly stocked closet, I heard Alice yell across the apartment.

"I have nothing to fucking wear! We have to go shopping for clothes as soon as possible!"

"Alice, you have twice as many clothes as Bella and I'm sure she's already found something to wear!" Rose shouted back.

"Oh for crying out loud, just put some jeans on, you'll look hot no matter what you wear!" I added my two cents. "Besides, we'll have uniforms at Noir anyways."

"Good point." I heard Rose say.

"Fine." Alice said annoyed and even though I couldn't see her, I imagined she had her hands on her tiny waist, tapping a foot, and rolling her eyes.

Once I had settled on my jean mini-skirt, a purple and silver backless shirt, and my knee high black boots I finished the look with dark eye makeup, and tousled wavy hair that I pulled over to one side.

I was not at all surprised to find that I was the first one back out to the living room where the boys where, and where I was greeted with a round of wolf whistling form Jasper and Emmett, while Edward stared at me.

"No." Was the only word he managed to form.

"No?" I challenged.

"I don't think it's such a great idea to go prancing around James Denali looking the way you do."

"I think if you want us to get close to him we have to become his favorites. I believe this will get the job done before Jasper gets the undercover IDs you three need." I said smirking before I watched Emmett's eyes pop out of his head, his jaw drop open, and I was pretty sure his tongue flopped out of his mouth just a little bit.

It could mean only one thing; Rose had appeared from her bedroom.

"Close your mouth idiot." Jasper laughed.

She walked up next to me and I could see why Emmett had gone all cartoon character dramatic on us. Rose was wearing her skin tight red halter dress that pushed her tits up to her chin and ended just below her ass. It didn't help that she paired it with her black Louboutin heels that wrapped up her calves and tied behind her knees.

"Can you work in those tonight?" I asked Rose.

"Pretty sure we won't be working tonight. Just going to tell him we accept the job offers. Shit, he's not even gonna be there until, what? 11? So we can't even officially accept until then. We'll probably start tomorrow night."

"That's what I thought too." Alice said as she appeared out of her bathroom fully dressed.

I was surprised to see that she had actually gone more conservative than Rose and I. She was wearing her black low-rise skinny jeans, paired with bright pink strappy heels and a light pink top swirled with silver and black. The top was one of her favorites because it made her tits look great.

It was Jasper's turn to stare at one of us.

"So we'll be parked a block south of the club while you're in there…" Emmett started after clearing his throat and turning away from Rose.

"Why?" Rose interrupted bring his attention back to her.

"Why what?" He dumbly asked after a few more seconds of staring.

"_Why_ are you going to be outside waiting? You can't do us any good there and since we can't be wired and you can't go in…might as well stay here until we get back. I'd say go home, but I know that won't happen since you'll want a debriefing as soon as we're out of there."

"She's good." Edward laughed.

"We're all good." I said then winked causing him to choke on absolutely nothing.

After a stare down of sorts, the boys folded and agreed to just stay at our apartment while we were out. We promised we wouldn't stay any longer than we absolutely had to, but it was hard to know how long James would want us there.

Edward made me promise to take my cell phone in and if anything seemed suspicious to text him and they would be there in a matter of seconds. Emmett and Jasper also finally gave their numbers to Rose and Alice. I was happy for that, as they both had been bitching about the fact that I had my hot cop's number but they didn't have theirs.

Finally at 10 we started towards the door, only to have Edward jump up from his spot in the chair and follow us. I was the last one out the door, but before I closed it I turned around and caught him staring at my ass.

"If you boys get tired, feel free to crash in the beds. I know only one of you, or well you or Jasper could fit on the couch but only half of Emmett can. I'll text you when we leave so you know we're on our way."

"Thanks Bella." He said smiling – which was swoon worthy.

"We'll see you boys soon." I said then before my brain could stop me, I leaned up on my toes and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before quickly turning back around and walking out the door and down the hall to meet up with Rose and Alice at the elevators.

Waiting for me there was not only my friends but two sets of wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Oh just shove it up your asses and let's go." I said as I stepped into the waiting elevator.

When we arrived at Noir we were met with a line to get in. Not ones to ever wait to get into a club we casually approached the bouncer who, as luck would have it, was the same bouncer from the previous evening.

"Hello again ladies." He said as he yet again eyeballed us.

"Evening. We have a meeting with Mr. Denali this evening." Rose said.

"I've been informed." He nodded then moved the clichéd red velvet rope to the side and let us through earning him a few disgruntled customers. "When you look like them, then you can go in too." We heard as we walked away.

Once in the doors we each took one last calming breath and then turned the corner where we found Laurent hovering apparently waiting for on us to arrive. He greeted us and then escorted us through the club and up to the VIP area where Felix graciously stepped aside and let us into James's personal VIP area.

James was not there yet but we were told to wait for him there and help ourselves to the stocked bar. Laurent stayed for a few minutes but then disappeared leaving us and Felix in the VIP section. Since Felix was there watching us almost so intently it was creepy, we had to keep our conversation away from the task at hand and focused instead on the show below us. We also watched the waitresses and the bartenders to see how they worked.

At 11:30 James finally showed up, only he wasn't alone. He had Laurent with him as well as a fiery red-head he introduced as Victoria.

"His wife." She added with a hiss as she sat down on his lap.

"Now, now V…these girls are here to replace Lauren and Tyler. Besides…you know the deal." He said as he all but molested her.

I turned to Alice and Rose only to find them looking at me with the same disgusted looks on their faces.

She nodded her head before moving from his lap and settling in a chair across from the three of us.

"Well…ladies you definitely look tempting this evening. I knew you'd look amazing when you actually tried to." He said to us then focused on my legs before licking his lips.

"Mr. Denali…" I said getting his attention.

"James, my sweet Bella."

I seriously wanted to vomit…or kick him the nuts. But instead I plastered on a smile that I hoped looked genuine as well as seductive. It apparently worked as he smiled back at me.

"James, it is then. We're here to accept the jobs you offered to us. We're in need of cash and as this seems to be an opportunity too good to pass up, we want it."

"Fabulous!" Laurent said from his place next to the door, reminding me that our gay friend was still present.

Victoria looked less than thrilled and somewhat skeptical but kept her mouth shut.

James clapped his hands together before standing up from his chair and walking over to the couch where we sat.

"Excellent news! We'll work out details tomorrow…"

"Actually, can we work out details tonight?" Rose asked earning a raised eyebrow from James. "It's just we'd like to know a schedule or how to dress so we can properly prepare tomorrow during the day."

"Hmm…we don't work on Friday nights baby. We play." Victoria purred.

"What Miss Rose says is valid though and this will only take a few minutes and then you can play all you want to." He said to her before turning his attention back to us. "The club is open Tuesday – Saturday. Every night is 8 pm to 3 am. You are to be here no later than 7. If you're late, there will be repercussions. You will get a fifteen minute break every other hour unless it's extremely busy. I run a strict business. You are to obey the rules or you'll be dealt with. As you're not dancers, you are not allowed back stage except to deliver drinks to the girls between sets."

"Is that all?" Alice asked.

"Your personal lives stay outside. In here, you belong to me. I own you. And never…I repeat _**never**_ go into my office unless I invite you in. Obeying these rules will result in me treating you so well, you'll never want to leave." He said as he took Victoria's hand and helped her up out of the chair. "Welcome to Noir ladies. I'll see you tomorrow at 7. As for tonight – you're off the clock. Please stay and have fun. I'll be…_unavailable_ for the remainder of the evening but Laurent will help you with anything else you need."

And then he was gone as was Felix.

Laurent was standing in front of us grinning like a fool though and before we could say anything he was talking a mile a minute about how much fun he was going to have with us working there and he just knew we would become great shopping partners.

"…and you three just seem so much more fun than the skanks already working here. And let me tell you…stay away from that Jessica. Wow…that one's just _special_. So…anyone special in your lives?"

"I thought James said to keep the personal lives outside?" Rose laughed.

"So there is special man-meat. Do share!" He said as he plopped down in the chair across from us.

"We'd rather not." Alice said.

"Oh come on! Please! Just a little something…judging by the blush coming from Bella over there, I'm guess they're steamy."

"You could say that." I said as I sipped my vodka cranberry.

"Shopping, spa day and then I'm getting those dets out of you three."

At the mention of spending money, I did some quick thinking and acted further on us needing cash that we'd mentioned early. Laurent seemed fairly close to James and he was clearly nosey so he might have something to divulge to us.

"Money Laurent…we need money to go shopping in Beverly Hills and do a spa day." I tried to say in a joking tone. Rose and Alice both gave me slightly confused looks but then put smiles back on their faces and laughed as soon as Laurent started speaking again.

"Oh girls…I got you and so does James. We'll just tell him that I've decided you need makeovers for the club to give you a fresh look and I'll get the money from him. He's always got a stack on him. The man is loaded; I tell you what his business definitely keeps him living a life style…"

"The club does that well?" Alice inquired causing Laurent to stop short and stare at us for just a second.

"Yes." He said quickly.

It was the shortest answer he had ever given us to a question and all but confirmed that Laurent had details we would need to get from him.

"Well that's cool. Means we'll be busy and tips could be good." Rose shrugged.

"Tomorrow work for you? Be good to start the new job looking all stylish!" He bounced around back to his normal self instantly.

"Tomorrow is good. We'll do shopping, lunch and then afternoon spa." I said.

"I'll call my spa and see if they can fit you in. I have a standing afternoon appointment at 3…that should give you girls plenty of time to get ready for your first night. I suggest coming in a little earlier than 7 as it will make you look better. Also, don't forget to bring me your driver's licenses and social security cards so we can get you on the payroll." He said and I could just see the end of that sentence playing in his eyes, 'a_nd do background checks.' _

"Sounds like a plan! I love shopping and as my wardrobe reminded me this evening – I need something new!" Alice said bouncing in her seat remarkably like Laurent had earlier.

"Yay!" he screeched. "Meet me here at 9 tomorrow." He added then left as well.

The three of us looked at each other then rolled our eyes before downing the rest of the drinks and heading out.

As soon as we stepped out of the club, I reached for cell phone. 1 missed called and 2 texts – all from Edward.

_Em's hungry again – going to get a late night snack. If you're on your way home – you want anything? – E_

_So it's going on 1 and we haven't heard anything from you. U ok? – E_

It was now 2:30 so I quickly typed a message back to him as we walked to the car.

_Just left. All is good. – B_

"Okay so he may be sex on legs, but he's clingy." I laughed as I pocketed the cell phone.

"They're just worried about us. Hell I'm worried about us." Alice giggled. "We might be in over our heads ladies."

"Too late now." Rose sighed as we pulled away from the curb.

It took us 10 minutes to get back to the apartment and when we got there we found each one of them asleep. And even though I had given them permission to use the beds, they were still in the living room. Jasper had taken the couch, Edward was using the chair, and Emmett was on the floor practically in the dining room.

It wasn't exactly the scene we thought we'd walk in on. I fully expected them all to be staring intently at the door waiting for us to arrive, Edward with his cell phone in his hand. As it was, it did appear that he had been holding in cell but when he passed out, it fell to the floor and the battery had popped out of it.

Alice held a finger up to her lips indicating we should be quiet and let them sleep. Rose and I agreed knowing that they, like us, hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before.

We agreed silently to set our alarms for 8 to allow plenty of time to get to the club and meet Laurent and then we each headed off to our respective bedrooms.

I had just changed into a tank-top and shorts, when the thought of one of them waking up in the middle of the night and not knowing we were home crossed my mind.

"Well shit…" I mumbled to myself before quietly sneaking back out into the living room. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, I didn't want to wake them, but I didn't really have a piece of paper to write a note on either.

Once in the living room, I realized the only thing I had to write on was a box that we had unpacked earlier. I shrugged before trying to locate the permanent marker.

After finally locating the marker, I bent over to write a quick note on the box. I was halfway through the note when I heard a sharp intake of air and what almost sounded like a growl coming from behind me causing me to quickly stand and turn around coming face to face with the DEA agent haunting my every thought.

"Jesus fucking hell." Edward mumbled as he pulled at his hair and shook his head.

Even in the darkness I could tell his eyes were focused not on my face but my tits and my body reacted to his attention on its own accord. My whole body flushed as if on command as he continued to stare. I felt myself heat up from the inside and the urge to attack his lips was almost unbearable.

To distract myself from the sudden need, I started rambling.

"You were all asleep when we got home and we didn't want to wake you up since we know you didn't sleep much last night but then after I laid down, I realized that you would probably freak out if you woke up and didn't know we were home. Since your cell phone is in three pieces on the floor, I knew you hadn't received my text letting you know we were on our way and…I know you probably wanted us to wake you so we could give you details, but we have to be up at 8 so we can meet Laurent at 9 and so…"

"Bella." Edward finally spoke and interrupted me which was probably a good thing because I was just going to continue talking like a damn idiot.

I stopped talking and starting chewing on my lower lip to keep from saying anything else while I waited for him to continue.

"We can catch up on everything Sunday since apparently tonight went down without any problems." He said as he took a step towards me. "I'm glad you girls are back safe and that you apparently texted me like I asked…but, who the hell is Laurent and why are you meeting _him_ at 9?" He finished as he took yet another deliberate step towards me, bring him within inches of me.

I took a shallow breath before looking at him Since I was barefoot, I was close to a foot shorter than him and he was so close to me I had to literally look up to see his face.

The jealousy raging in his eyes completely ruined the moment for me though.

"Oh for fuck sakes." I huffed crossing my arms over my chest. Edward looked taken aback to my sudden change in attitude but instead of saying anything he just cocked an eyebrow at me before his eyes drifted back down to my chest, which was not very much on display having crossed my arms and squeezed my breasts together.

When I realized that he was once again distracted, I sighed and dropped my arms to my sides. The movement snapped him back to reality and he returned his focus to my face.

He certainly did look adorable when he was confused.

"Laurent…" I began and with the mention of the name Edward narrowed his eyes causing me to roll mine in response. "Laurent is the manager or something at Noir and _very_ gay. He's taking us shopping and to get makeovers tomorrow before we officially start working tomorrow night."

"Oh." Was his lame comeback.

"Yeah. We'll be out of here by quarter till 9 in the morning and then won't be back here until around 5 or so to get ready for the evening. After that we'll be back here at 4 probably. We'll text you Sunday when we wake up and we'll make plans to go over anything we have at that point."

"Umm…ok." He said still confused by the change in the atmosphere surrounding the two of us.

"You all are still more than welcome to stay here or you can get the other two up and go home." I said as I turned back towards the hallway.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"…good night."

"Good night Edward." I said then disappeared down the hall and into my bedroom.

Once again though, sleep was hard to come by and when I did sleep I was bombarded with images of Edward.

And we're not talking G rated images either. We're talking adult only images which seemed to have been on replay in my mind even after waking up.

When I wandered out to the living room later that morning, I found that the guys had left at some point before 8 and for that I was actually thankful. I was pretty positive I wouldn't have been able to face him and not blush like a silly school girl after the naughty images my subconscious was able to put together.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey all! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

After watching Bella walk back to her room, I sat back down in the chair I had apparently passed out in and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.

I was pretty pissed about falling asleep while waiting for the girls – but more pissed about whatever I did to cause Bella to change her attitude in a matter of seconds.

I wasn't imaging anything. We had some sort of connection and she wanted to kiss me as bad as I wanted to kiss her but then in a matter of seconds the connection was gone and she seemed mad about something.

"She doesn't dig jealousy asshat." Jasper mumbled as he shifted to a sitting position on the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. "What time is it?"

"Almost 4. How long have you been awake?" I asked shifting to pick up the pieces of my cell phone.

"Long enough to hope that you two didn't go at it like rabbits in the kitchen."

"Fucker." I mumbled.

"I woke up when they came home. They weren't exactly quiet." He laughed. I nodded in acknowledgment but remained silent. "I was hoping to be able to fall back asleep but then Bella came back out…"

He trailed off but smirked in my direction. I just rolled my eyes and continued fixing my cell phone.

The two of us continued to sit in silence for a few minutes until an obnoxious snore erupted from Emmett.

"Hmmm…well since the girls aren't going to give us details until Sunday, should we wake up McCarty and head home?" Jasper suggested.

"I think that sounds like a decent idea. I need to meet my Aunt and Uncle tomorrow for lunch at their house anyways so sleeping a little tonight would be a good idea." I said as I stood up from the chair and walked over to Emmett's sleeping form kicking his foot once I got there.

"What?" Emmett grunted.

"Get up. The girls are home safe. We're leaving and waiting until we hear from them on Sunday to go over everything." Jasper said as he stood up too.

"I could use a bed." He said glancing down the hall towards Rose's room as he hauled his ass off the floor.

"Not that one." Jasper laughed and shook his head.

"Like you didn't dreamily glance towards Alice's room earlier or try to convince us it was okay to go through their personal items to get a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"I still think we should have at least tried to find information on them. It's hard telling what they've not told us. We have to make sure we can trust them." He argued back.

"Yeah keep telling yourself that." Emmett snorted.

"Come on ladies." I said as I opened the door. Jasper shoved Emmett's shoulder as he walked by him and out the door. Emmett chuckled but followed him.

Before closing the door, I took one last look around the apartment making sure all was secure then locked it up and followed the other two down the hall towards the lobby elevator and to my waiting car.

After dropping Jasper and Emmett off back at their waiting car, I drove home in a fog; on auto-pilot to the point that when I pulled into the parking spot at the condo and shut off the engine, I realized I had no idea what roads I took or if I ran any stop lights. I couldn't even tell you what I had specifically been thinking about that had distracted me from driving.

"Fuck." I groaned at the realization I was already in over my head with everything and we hadn't even really started the mission yet.

I was too exhausted to think too much about the events of the day or what the rest of the weekend would bring, so I hauled my sorry ass up the stairs, luckily reaching my bed before passing out.

The sunlight beaming in through my window the next morning woke me up much earlier than I had planned on it. I wasn't due at Carlisle and Esme's until noon and it was merely 9 in the morning. Also indicating that I hadn't gotten as much sleep as I had hoped for.

Once I was awake though, it was impossible to go back to sleep, so I reluctantly got up and got ready for the day.

Esme was thrilled to see me so early though.

"Oh Edward! We weren't expecting you for another hour or so." She said when I appeared in the kitchen.

"Hope it is okay that I'm here. I woke up and just couldn't go back to sleep…"

"Looks like you haven't been sleeping at all in the past few days." Carlisle comment as he walked in off the back patio.

"I know." I sighed then sat down on one of the stools at the bar.

"Can you talk about it?" Esme asked concern lacing her voice.

"Not really, but I do need to tell you that I'm gonna be off the grid for a while. You won't be able to contact me, but whenever I can I'll get messages to you to let you know I'm okay."

"Fair enough son." Carlisle nodded while snaking his hand around to try and steal some of the food Esme was prepping. He earned a smack and disapproving eye raise in return. He just chuckled before turning back to me. "How are the new partners?"

I tried my best to explain Jasper and Emmett to them but those two were hard to put into words. While describing my two new friends, I couldn't help but smile at our limited time spent together. I couldn't have asked to be placed with two better guys as partners in this case – and I was beginning to think in any case. They knew their shit and they had connections that I didn't have.

Of course that also meant they had pasts, but then again who didn't? I was tempted to pull Jasper's file to find out exactly where he came from that he would have connections to someone who could provide deep undercover identifications for us. But I had formed a friendship and going behind his back would be a violation of that friendship.

I also desperately wanted to know Emmett's past, but it was pointless to ask them to share when I hadn't shared with them either. We had briefly broached the subject about where I came from, but I just simply said I grew up in LA and then moved to New York for the DEA position.

It was probable that all of the nitty gritty details would eventually be brought out into the open while we spent a shit ton of time together trying to get into Denali's organization and on stakeouts…or monitoring the girls.

That was the thing that seemed to bond the three of instantly; those three woman who wanted to help us but seemed to be uncaring about the amount of danger they were putting themselves in.

Bella had the heart of a lion, but was merely a lamb. No matter how fierce she envisioned herself, she was not as strong as she thought – or at least not in comparison to the evil she willingly put herself in front of. And her lack of concern for her own safety was bound to get her into trouble.

What made her so willing to put her wellbeing on the backburner in order to capture Denali?

A small part of my brain reminded me that I too was willing to risk my safety to capture the asshole, but I reasoned that it was my job.

Or I tried to reason with myself anyways. I knew deep down that even if I hadn't chosen to be a DEA agent, if I was given the opportunity to place someone who murdered innocent people behind bars I would do it.

Hell I had been willing to do it when I was kid and my parents were shot.

And I most definitely would risk my safety to protect Bella, which is why I was going in undercover to Noir with Jasper and Emmett. It was very likely that even with extremely professional fake backgrounds, we'd get noticed or picked out as feds. If it happened, not only would we be dead, it was possible Bella, Rose, and Alice would also be found out.

It was something I had thought about – over and over again. We had to go in to keep an eye on the situation but by doing that we were increasing the chances of blowing their cover.

If our actions caused harm to Bella, to any of them, the three of us would die avenging them. It was guaranteed. And having those feelings and knowing that after only personally knowing them 3 days was insane. It was stupid. It was irrational. It was frustrating. It was wonderful. It was something I'd never felt before

"What's her name?" Esme whispered into the quiet kitchen. I looked up from the granite counter top and found two sets of understanding eyes.

"Bella." I smiled.

"How did you meet?" She inquired again. I gave her a look telling her that I couldn't give her exact details. "A case?"

"Yes. She was wanted for questioning. Her and two of her friends witnessed something they shouldn't have."

"Are you in charge of protecting her?" Carlisle asked. I snorted at his question, because yes I was but it was my own doing.

"Yes and no. No in the eyes of the DEA…according to the DEA they're still wanted for questioning, but we took them in a couple nights ago. Yes in my eyes. I feel very protective of her – even before…our current situation." I said frustrated that I couldn't tell them more than that.

"Edward, are you risking your career for this woman?" Carlisle asked, not with disapproval though.

I simply nodded. It was true if it was discovered that we didn't follow proper procedures and secure them for _real_ questioning, and then let them go without processing them only to get them involved in an unsanctioned undercover operation, we would be terminated on the spot. I was risking my career to bring down Denali and keep Bella safe.

It was something the three of us had not discussed together about the situation. It went without saying that the three of us were willing to sacrifice our careers for the girls. In fact my job was one of the last things that crossed my mind.

First and foremost had always been their safety. Second had been an exit strategy. Third was my family's safety if my true identity was discovered. Everything after those three things seemed trivial to me. Unimportant in the scheme of things.

"Would she have been safer in jail?" Esme questioned. It was a legitimate question and an option that crossed my mind at one point.

"No. If we arrested them and processed them then…well we have a leak in the agency. If we put them in the system…my mark…would find out and he has connections everywhere. They'd be sitting ducks in jail. At least this way the three of us can watch them at all times. And if…the mark…thinks they're on his side…" I stopped because I had said too much.

"Undercover?" They both asked. I only nodded again. This time their eyes held concern _and_ slight disapproval.

I disapproved of me too.

"Can we just try to enjoy a nice lunch? I'm starving – I haven't eaten since like 8 last night." I said trying desperately to change the subject. Thankfully they both nodded but it still managed to hang around in the air.

After a few hours with them, I headed back to the condo for a late afternoon workout and figured it was time to call Aro and Seth in New York to see what was going with at the other side of the country.

I had been putting off calling Aro…not so much Seth, but definitely Aro. I was actually surprised neither of them had tried to call me at that point.

And so after 30 minutes I finally picked up my phone and dialed Seth first.

"Hey bro!" He answered his cell on the second ring.

"Hey Seth. So any news on the New York front?"

"Well my new partner is a real asshole." He laughed. "Ever have any dealings with Newton?"

"Michael Newton? Aro partnered you with Newton? That guy is worthless."

"You're telling me. I don't think he really cares about anything – he's just here to have a job. Ya know? Well anyways – Denali hasn't come back to New York since he left in a hurry to LA."

"Yeah I know, we've got eyes on him."

"Already? Damn you move fast. How'd you find someone to go undercover so quickly?"

My silence must have tipped him off that I was up to something because I heard him sigh before continuing again.

"Edward…what have you done?"

"Seth, I know you're not the leak, but I can't tell you."

"You found the girls didn't you?"

"Yes and we took them in for questioning just like we were supposed to…"

"But their warrants are still outstanding."

"That's going to be taken care of – we can't have local LEO's picking them up."

"Alright Edward – but I hope you three know what you're doing. If you need me for something, you know I'm only a flight away."

"I know partner. So any other news? Get any more info on the girls' families? Bella's phone?"

"Bella?" He questioned and I could just imagine the confusion plastered on his face.

"Isabella's. Sorry – she prefers Bella."

"Oh does she now?" He laughed. If we had been face to face, I would have shoved him. "Well the only activity on her cell phone has been to the girls and _you_. She tried to call her dad once but he didn't answer. We however got in contact with him. He seems like a decent guy – and definitely a retired cop. He identified me instantly as a federal agent. He's adamant that his daughter wouldn't do anything illegal."

"They didn't. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time – apparently they're cursed that way."

"Her mom is an airhead but funny as hell. She hasn't spoken to her daughter in months but again assured us the Isabella is a good girl just a free spirit."

"Okay what about the other two?"

"Hmm…well we have Rosalie's dad in custody. Apparently he somehow managed to stumble into a corrupt Politian's web of lies. His job as a construction foreman was apparently the one job the crooked senator needed on his payroll. From that point it just spiraled out of control for him. He ended up dragging Rosalie in too although, we're all pretty convinced she wasn't aware of what she was helping him do."

"She knew more than he thought. She's very _knowledgeable_ on the legal system. What of Alice?"

"Mary Alice? Well we were able to unseal her record. She's got a long list of offensives but her parents' money kept her out of juvenile detention. Petty theft, drug paraphernalia, she stole her mom's Bentley one night, broke into her school, and the list goes on – nothing that leads into murder."

"Okay and what of her parents?"

"Those two are something else. You know the self-entitled type? I'm pretty sure that if my parents were like the Brandon's I would have acted just like Mary Alice too. When we finally were able to speak directly to them and not their house keepers or secretary, they refused to speak to us without their _team of lawyers_…did you hear me? Their _team_? Who the hell…anyways…we set up a phone conference with them and their lawyers and they finally told us that they hadn't spoken to their daughter since she cashed out all of her bank accounts and disappeared. They admitted to hiring a private P.I. to track her down but only recently had he had any luck."

"Let me guess – when they reappeared on the grid under their own names in L.A.?"

"Yep." He said adding a pop at the 'p'. "And they were pretty dead set on going up to LA and dragging her back to Phoenix to fulfill her duties. Whatever the fuck that means."

"Debutant duties…parties…and marrying whomever her parents deemed worthy."

"Well that's bullshit. Anyways – we convinced them that if they went to Los Angeles they would be interfering with a federal investigation and we'd arrest them."

"Okay. Thanks." I sighed knowing we dodged a bullet with that one. "Keep me updated on anything new. I'm gonna call Director V now."

"Will do." He said then hung up.

I waited another hour before I finally called Aro.

"Edward…I've been expecting this call." He said distractedly.

"Director Volturi we're moving right along out here. We're getting closer to Denali." I said jumping straight into the debriefing that I was required to give him.

"Good good. How are the new partners?"

"Proving to be rather useful to have around and great guys."

"Glad to hear it. And the girls?" He mused sounding like he already knew what I was going to say.

"We did locate them…"

"But you haven't taken them in yet?"

"Well…"

"That's what I figured. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope I know what I'm doing too." I sighed before disconnecting the phone call.

It wasn't until after I hung up the phone that I realized it was almost seven o'clock and I knew the girls would be either headed to the club or already there.

And then I was just frustrated that I was stuck in my condo with nothing to do. I had no sooner decided to get in a hot shower to try and relieve some of the stress when a loud banging on my door made me jump out of my skin.

And then I was instantly on alert. No one knew where I lived out here. No one except Carlisle and Esme and I told them not to contact me for a while so I knew it wasn't them – plus Carlisle wouldn't bang on a door like that.

I pulled my gun from its holster hanging on the wall beside the door and silently moved closer.

Right as I got to the door and looked through the peephole, an easily recognizable voice shouted at me.

"Open up Cullen!" Emmett boomed as he grinned stupidly at the peephole. I couldn't see Jasper but I knew he had to be with him.

I dropped my gun to my side and relaxed before opening the door to my idiot partners.

"Whoa dude…don't think the gun is needed." Emmett laughed when I opened the door to let them inside.

"You guys scared the hell out of me. How'd you get my address?"

"Really Edward?" Jasper laughed. "We're federal agents; pretty sure we can find an address. Nice place. Your Aunt and Uncle must have some money."

"I suppose. Carlisle was a surgeon and Esme an interior designer. They're retired now and were going to sell the downtown condo when I got the news I was going to be relocated temporarily to LA. I needed a place to stay so they're letting me stay here for the time being."

"Sweet deal. I grew up in a trailer outside Houston." Jasper laughed.

"No shit?" I said as I slid my gun back in the holster and went to the living room.

"Yeah I didn't grow up with much. Kind of how I got into the life…get ready – we're going to see Jenks tonight. He's decided to meet with us but the only time he said he could do it was tonight – at his office. We have to be there in an hour.

"That was quick."

"Well…he's motivated." Jasper said without giving anything away. No emotions crossed his face. I looked over towards Emmett but he just rolled his eyes and before I could ask anything else Jasper was walking away and taking a self-guided tour of the condo.

Since neither Emmett nor I had any idea where this Jenks guy's office was, Jasper drove us.

And it was an extremely quiet car ride.

We drove for about 30 minutes before he pulled into an underground parking garage. The parking garage was dark and empty aside from the three of us, and it was second nature to make sure my firearm was secure under my shirt before getting out of the vehicle and following Jasper to the elevators. Emmett was close behind me surprisingly still remaining silent.

When we stepped into the elevator, Jasper pushed the button for the 25th floor and stood facing forward avoiding eye contact with the two of us. After the doors finally opened for us, we stepped into a lobby for a law office

"Andrew J. Jenkinson, attorney at law?" Emmett questioned.

"Jenks." Jasper mumbled as he walked towards the receptionist's desk. "Whitlock to see…"

"Oh yes Mr. Whitlock he's expecting you. You and your friends can go right in." She quickly said as she pushed a button opening a side door.

Jasper motioned for us to follow him.

Inside the office an older gentleman sat behind a large oak desk staring intently at the door we had just walked through.

He looked nervous.

"Mr. Whitlock." The man stood and extended his hand towards Jasper.

"Jenks." Jasper said taking his hand. "These are my partners Edward Cullen and Emmett McCarty."

"Yes. Pleasure." He said as calmly as he could muster but his voice shook as he extended his hand to us as well before sitting back down behind the protection of his desk. "So your phone call this morning made it sound like an emergency."

"It is and we appreciate you agreeing to meet with us on short notice." Jasper said but there almost seemed to be hidden meaning behind it. The slight widened of Jenks' eyes indicated as much.

"Anything I can do to assist as always. Please have a seat."

Jasper did not sit; he didn't even glance at the other chairs. So I remained standing as well. Emmett too, in fact he crossed his massive arms over his chest and almost huffed.

He didn't have a damn clue what was going on but he picked up on the need to intimidate the man behind the desk.

It worked.

Jenks' attention was drawn immediately to Emmett and he gulped.

"Right. Straight to business then."

"We need full backgrounds. Something even the best wouldn't break. We need history. We need IDs. We need it all."

"Names?"

"Jasper Flannigan."

"Irish?" Jenks questioned.

"Yes. This is my cousin Edward Flannigan. And his business partner Emmett Giordano."

"Two Irishmen and an Italian?"

"Yes." Jasper said with a clenched jaw. Jenks looked down at his note pad before speaking again.

"And the business?"

"Drug trafficking." He said finally glancing at Emmett and me almost for approval. We both nodded agreeing that it was good.

"Histories?" Jenks asked as he pulled a camera out from his desk.

This time Jasper looked directly at me before sighing and turning back to Jenks. "Make it up and make it dangerous. Also we'll need to use Chicago as our hometown."

"Done." Jenks said then stood up and pulled down a blue screen. "I need pictures for your IDs."

One at time we stood for our pictures.

"We need all of this information in a week." Jasper said.

"A week! Are you fucking crazy? It takes time to pull these papers and histories together."

"You have a week." He said one more time with a pointed looked before turning around and walking back out the office door.

Emmett and I quickly followed behind him and caught up to him just in time to sneak into the waiting elevator.

"I'm sorry Edward." Jasper said.

"Sorry for what?" Emmett asked confused.

"Why Chicago?" I asked not upset just confused.

"You have knowledge of the city which we'll need in order to convince Denali that we truly are from Chicago. It's the only city he's not broken into because of the mob that's already there…I really am sorry but I had to dig into your history to find out if there was anything we could use. Emmett's past is no good to us – being from a small ass backwards town in Tennessee. We can't use Houston – too close to a place we think Denali uses."

"What's going on?" Emmett asked getting slightly frustrated.

"It's okay Jasper. We all need to talk about our pasts anyways." I said raising an eyebrow at him hoping to convey the fact that I wanted to know exactly how he knew Jenks.

"Let's go to a bar and have a few then." He said without fighting anything.

"What the fuck you guys? This is fucking ridiculous. Not that I mind going to a bar – it will help keep my mind off other things but why are we discussing our pasts and why is Jasper sorry?"

"I dug into Edward's past without his permission and now we need to talk about it. We all need to know everything about each other if we're going in undercover anyways."

He nodded in agreement as we headed off to their favorite bar for drinks and sharing.


	12. Chapter 11

****A/N: Sorry yet again for another delay in getting a chapter posted. I was all set to post more often and then...I had wrist surgery. Still recovering, I've been hunting and peeking my way through this thing and finally got it done today. HA!****

****Hope you enjoy this round of fun. Let me know what you think and as always thank you for reading!****

****~Tiff****

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

Laurent was a shopper and there was no other way to describe it. I had always thought Alice was bad, but Laurent was Alice on steroids and by the time we hit the spa that afternoon, I was ready for the promised relaxation of a private facial.

The day had been informative and an experience to say the least and the boys would be thrilled on some of the information we were able to drag out of our new friend.

We arrived at the club on time to find Laurent waiting for us, a shopping bag already in hand. Rose pulled curbside and Laurent hopped into the back with me.

"Morning bitches! Okay so we have a big day ahead of us. We're going to be hitting Rodeo Drive of course. First things first, breakfast and then I've made us appointments at Agent Provocateur this morning before the store opens – who wants to shop for lingerie with a bunch of strangers in the store?"

"What about La Perla? It's my favorite." Alice interjected.

"Oh don't worry – we'll go there too, but James prefers his girls in Agent lingerie. From Agent we'll probably head to the basics…Chanel, Gucci, Juicy Couture, Guess, Dolce, I _know_ you girls know where to shop."

"Spa?" I asked because it really was the only thing I was looking forward to – well and the lingerie shopping.

"Oh yes! I made us appointments at 3 for facials, mani-pedis, and haircuts. We need to update your styles girls."

From that point on, it was like he couldn't stop talking or throwing clothes at us. The total bill we were racking up had to be outrageous but every time we said something about money, Laurent waved us off.

It only took us asking one time while Laurent was distracted by racks of clothing for him to start talking though.

"How does James have so much to spend on three employees…that he doesn't even know?" Rose asked.

"He has a side business other than the club. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I get the feeling it is probably illegal. Anyone with guards like Felix and Demetri is into more than owning a club. I'm not privy to that info though. All I know is that the man is loaded and he loves to spend on girls he wants to please." He said pursing his lips and winking towards me.

"Um…thought he was with that red head." I said.

"Victoria. Oh he is, but they have an _understanding_. They both have their fun on the side." He said dismissively.

From there we learned all about everyone employed at the club.

Alec, Marcus, Caius, and Eleazar were the bartenders and friends of James. That little fact told us that they were bad news and people we probably wanted nothing to do with. Laurent said as much, just in not a lot of words. When we asked for additional details on them, he simply shook his head and said "stay away."

We learned Jessica, the waitress, was a whore who had been with every male at the club except James. The one she desperately wanted. He warned us to watch out for her as she would likely attempt to get us fired since James showed a peeked interest in the three of us.

He also told us about the stars of the show. Tanya, Kate, and Irina were sisters and billed as such. There was also Carmen, who he told us was dating Eleazar. Although he used air quotes when he said dating.

He advised we steer clear of Heidi and Jane; actually he advised we stay away from all of the dancers.

"So who do we make friends with?" Alice asked.

"Me of course!" He said while clapping his hands causing us all to laugh.

"Telling Alice not to make friends is like telling her not to shop." I mumbled.

"Slut." She said eyeing me playfully. "I do have one question…"

"Sure and then I need those details on the man candy you three are keeping to yourselves."

"What happened to the two people we were hired to replace?"

It was the first time Laurent looked nervous. He even stuttered before beginning.

"Um…no one is really sure. The waitress, Bree had just started with us about a week before. After she started, she quickly became friends with Riley, one of the bartenders. It's strange for James to hire outside of his group of friends so it was strange that he brought Riley and then Bree in as they didn't know anyone who already worked at Noir…anyways, Riley was a strange one. He always just seemed off. One night he and Bree came in late together and they were acting even more strange than normal. James and Victoria called them into his office…"

The three of us raised our eyebrows at that, as it had clearly been indicated that going into James's office meant something huge.

"So yeah they went in there, and then they were never seen again. There's a back door to the club, it was assumed they were escorted out the back door by Felix."

"Well if they were fired for being late that would make sense." I said.

"Yeah it would, except three days later they were _both_ reported missing by their families." He said then turned around and left the store we were in.

It was creepy and I knew the three of us had the same thought about the two disappearing, but none of us communicated it.

We followed Laurent silently and into the next store, where he proceeded to produce our 3 uniforms.

Alice and I had the same uniform as Jessica which I was not thrilled about – short tight black shorts and black tank-top, paired with basic black four inch pumps.

Although, I think our uniforms were better than Rose's. Her shorts were short like ours, but instead of a tank top, her shirt was actually a suit vest that barely contained her tits.

She eyeballed herself in the mirror and then Laurent.

"Sorry hun…James's design." He shrugged. "Come on let's go…spa appointments in less than an hour and we still have one more store we have to visit."

We all changed back into our regular clothes and then followed a skipping gay black man into Prada.

After that we finally found ourselves in the spa and being separately escorted into private rooms for our facials.

The little girl who was doing my facial seemed to be able to sense my need for relaxation and never said a word to me except to let me know that we had finished and to follow her to the manicure station.

It was where I found Rose, Alice, and Laurent looking blissfully tranquil. I should have known as soon as all of us were back in the same room and since getting your nails done is the universal time to gossip, Laurent got us to spill the details on Edward, Emmett and Jasper.

We obviously skipped on the name parts though and anything that would set them apart from strangers. Couldn't exactly be telling Laurent that Edward had copper colored hair, Emmett had a full tattoo sleeve and dimples, or that Jasper had a thick southern accent; if – well when – the boys finally showed up in the bar, Laurent would be able to identify them. Which would just fucking suck. But we spilled on everything else and Laurent seemed more than pleased at the visuals we were giving him.

Hell, I was more than pleased at the visuals I was giving myself describing Edward.

As I describe as much as I could, I found myself reliving my encounter with him earlier that morning in the apartment. I could feel the desire radiating off of him, as I'm sure he could feel it radiating off of me. In that second, I wanted him.

I mean really, really wanted him. His friends just five feet away be damned.

I was attracted to him, there was no denying it. Of course, it probably didn't help that I hadn't had sex in almost four years. In fact, I'd only ever had sex twice before. The first time not even really counting since I didn't remember it. Jake had invited me to a beach party with some of his friends at the local Quileute reservation. The tribe elders were there too and they were performing a ritual which involved doing peyote. I joined in and also drank a little. The next thing I remember was waking up next to Jake on the beach – naked. I was sore so I knew we had had sex and I was instantly pissed at myself for losing my virginity in that way. I continued to lay there trying to put pieces together and I was only able to come up with bits and not the whole thing.

Jake finally woke up and when I told him what had happened, he had felt so bad about it that he offered to take me out on a date. During the date, we decided that since neither of us remembered the evening we'd forget it ever happened. He was so sweet about it we ended up having sex in the back seat of his car before he took me home.

That was the last time I'd had sex and only months before I skipped town. Jake and I had decided we were better as friends, mainly my decision since I knew I was leaving town and Jake never would. It wouldn't have worked out anyways. It was never electric between us.

It was never like what I felt when even close to Edward.

While in New York City, Rose and Alice dated casually but I never wanted it. I had offers, trust me, but it never felt right for some reason.

The sexual frustration was now coming back to bite me in the ass.

I wanted to rip Edward's clothes off of him every time I was near him and if he hadn't shown his jealous side and snap me out of my Edward induced haze, I might have christened our new apartment.

I wasn't a fan of jealously and especially since he had absolutely no claim on me whatsoever.

But while it had broken the spell the between us at that particular moment, it had done nothing to hinder my attraction to him.

"Girl is off in some fantasy." Laurent said bringing me back to the salon while they finished up my mani-pedi.

"Sexual?" Rose asked wiggling her eyebrows.

"God, you're crude!" I laughed at her.

"Not news to anyone here." Alice giggled causing us all to laugh.

While our freshly painted nails dried we headed over to the hair salon portion to wrap up our day.

Laurent started with Rose and told her stylist what he was hoping for on the end result.

Rose happily agreed with his suggestions and they were off and running. She got a shine treatment on her naturally blonde hair as well as adding new shorter layers. Her hair was still just past shoulder length but framed a little more as opposed to just cascading down her back.

For as long as I had known Alice, she had long black hair so I was shocked when she suggested they cut it all off. Laurent agreed that it was exactly what she needed. And man they really did chop it all off. They left it just long enough to spike it out in the back and give her a few different options in styling. It almost looked like a Meg Ryan inspired cut, except edgier probably due to the color being black.

I was a little more hesitant when it came to my hair, but I was surprised when they decided not to do much to mine at all. They added additional red under-lights and trimmed it up just about three inches. They also layered it to add additional volume.

We looked refreshed and updated. And pretty damn sexy.

We finished at the salon right at 6 giving us an hour to get back to the apartment, get ready, and get to the club for our first night of work.

Laurent bid as goodbye saying he'd see us in an hour to start our evening and then we sped off to get ready and drop off our gazillion bags of clothes and shoes.

"I can't believe I'm wearing this." Rose said as we walked back to the car after changing.

"Ladies…we need a plan." I said ignoring Rose completely.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked tilting her head in my direction before hopping in the car.

"Well…are we going to pry people for details or are we going to play it cool?"

"I suggest playing it cool. I mean if we start to pry too much too quickly, we'll seem suspicious. Ya know?" Rose said.

"True." Alice and I said.

"I think we play it cool for a while and see what happens and what kind of info we get without asking for it. Let's just spend this week getting to know everyone so we can report personal habits and details back to the guys. I think after they get into the bar, we can start digging harder if needed." Rose continued.

And so it was agreed that was how we would handle the first week at work.

The first thing we did when we arrived at the club was give our personal information to Laurent and sign our employment papers. That took us only about thirty minutes. After that Alice and I were escorted off to Jessica and she showed us which tables we were to be covering.

Jessica was taking the tables closest to the bar, Alice taking the middle section, and I was given the VIP section along with the tables closest to the stairway.

Jessica was less than thrilled when she told us our assignments.

"Do your fucking jobs…stay at your own fucking tables…and don't fuck anything up." She said then left us and walked over to the bar to find a seat.

We spotted Rose at the end of the bar, away from the other bartenders reading a drink book, and headed her direction.

"So?" I asked as we sat in front of her.

"The short blonde is Alec. Tall muscled blonde is Caius. Creepy looking tall guy with brown hair that looks like a bad wig is Marcus. Him and Caius have Italian accents. Alec is English and is actually Jane, the dancer's, brother. Eleazar is the one trying to get into Jessica's pants right now."

"I thought him and Carmen were…" Alice questioned.

"They're just fucking on the side apparently."

"How in the hell did you get all of this info already." I laughed.

"Alec likes tall busty blondes apparently." She winked then went back to reading her drink book. "Just freshening up on my mixes. They've got a few in here I've never heard of…Vampiro? Really?"

"What's in it?" I asked.

"Tequila, sangrita, grapefruit juice, and lime juice."

"Gross." Alice and I both said turning up our noses.

"I know right?"

Before we knew it the place was packed and we were handling it like pros. After all we used to waitress in one of the busiest clubs in New York City.

With the craziness of the bar, I forgot I wasn't really there to enjoy working there and should have been studying the people I was working with instead of bantering back and forth with them as I waited on drinks to be filled.

James showed about midnight with Victoria wrapped around him. He dismissed her up to the VIP section before walking towards Alice, Rose, and I who all at that time happened to have a slight break in orders and were standing at the corner of the bar.

"Ladies." He greeted then leaned in to give us each kisses on our cheeks. "You all look absolutely stunning this evening. I knew you were in good hands with Laurent. Oh and your uniforms fit you splendidly."

"Thank you." The three of us said.

"We'll have the regular in the VIP." He said nodding to Caius then gave one last look at the three of us before walking away and up to the VIP section.

"Here ya go Bella. Bottle of vodka, two glasses, and his cigars." Caius said as he slid a tray over to me.

I wormed my way through the crowd and up to the VIP section. Felix was standing watch at the "door" like always, but when he saw me approaching, he stepped aside and pulled back the curtain to let me enter.

When I entered the room though, I almost dropped the tray and ran.

James had Victoria by the throat against a wall.

"Hello Isabella." He said without turning to me. I think he felt like I was getting ready to leave because then he turned quickly and glared. "Stay."

I nodded slightly and stayed right where I was.

He turned back to Victoria who I noted wasn't fighting against him.

"Tell him we had a deal." He said through clenched teeth before placing a kiss on her lips then dropped her and turned back to me. "Thank you Isabella. If we need anything additional, Felix will be down to get it for us."

I nodded again, set the tray down, and walked back down to the floor to make sure none of the patrons down there needed refills.

Since we were still in the club, I didn't mention what I had heard and seen while in VIP to Rose and Alice, but my mood had noticeably changed.

Alice instantly picked up on it.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." I said hoping to convey with my eyes that it was something that needed to be talked about later.

"Okay…" She said hesitantly then blinked slowly like she was thinking about something. "OH!"

"Any big tips tonight?" I asked changing the subject.

"Yeah this one guy…" She started to say but then we got interrupted by Laurent.

"Alice…I need your help…" Laurent said walking up behind us. "Tanya's outfit ripped so I need to fix it, but they're requesting drinks backstage. I usually take them, but I just can't. Alec knows the order."

"I thought we weren't allowed…"

"Umm…yeah you're not, but I need you right now." He said then just walked away.

"Great…I get to meet the dancers." She said rolling her eyes then turned to see Alec smiling with a tray full of multiple shots.

"Good luck!" I laughed then headed back towards my section where someone was flagging me down.

Finally 3 rolled around and the bar closed its doors. After all the customers were gone, we watched James, Victoria, and Felix come down from the VIP section and through the door to the backstage area without so much as a look towards anyone who was in the room.

"Hell of night." Rose groaned as she wiped off the bar.

"No shit." I sighed as I sat down.

"You girls wanna grab some food with us?" Marcus asked.

"We really shouldn't…we've got to get home and get some sleep. We have plans pretty early. Thanks though!" Alice said brightly. "Next time maybe."

"Yeah." He said then walked away.

"Come on girls, let's head home." I said then headed out towards our car with them following. When we got there we weren't at all surprised to find we all had missed calls, voicemails, and text messages.

"These boys are crazy drunk." I laughed as I tried to decipher the text messages from Edward.

"No lying there!" Rose chuckled. "One hell of guys' night I'm guessing; Emmett texted me non-English gibberish at 11."

"I think I'm in love." Alice sighed dreamily causing Rose and me to laugh. I couldn't help but smile at my little friend though because I had a feeling I was sort of in the same boat she was in.

I opened my phone again and sent a message of my own.

_**Heading home. Hope you boys feel ok enough to meet with us and go over things. Lots to tell. We'll call you when we wake up to make plans. - B**_


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I'm not sure what kind of signal Jasper or Emmett gave Tyler behind the bar when we walked into Kilroy's but it was like magic that a tray of shot glasses, a bottle of whiskey, and three beers appeared on the table before we even really got seated.

"Thanks Tyler." Jasper said with nod in his direction as he poured three shots out. "Drink up boys." He held up a shot as he downed his before I could pick mine up.

"Should we be drinking like this with the girls going in undercover for their first night?" Emmett asked.

"They'll be fine tonight." I sighed and downed another shot. "So…how are we gonna go about this then?"

"I figured we'd just start talking. I can go first." Jasper chuckled. "Well as you know, I grew up in Houston in a trailer, in one of the worst possible parts of town…"

And then he didn't leave anything out. His biological father left him and his mother, Julia, when he was only a year old leaving his mother to figure it out on her own. He got shoved to whomever could watch him while she worked three jobs and it opened his world to things that no child should ever see – drug use, prostitution, you name it he pretty much saw hit.

When he was 12 his mother got involved in a relationship with a man named Mitch who lived off his unemployment and stayed at home all day drinking instead of looking for a job. Since Jasper's mother was never home, it left Jasper alone with Mitch – a drunk who when he got pissed off, got violent.

Jasper said he took it like a man, because he figured if he took the beatings while his mother was out then Mitch wouldn't hit Julia. But it got to the point that Jasper couldn't hide the bruises any longer so he stopped going to school and then eventually he just stopped going home too.

While on the streets, he met some boys that offered him shelter, food, and money, if the ran errands for them.

The errands were drug deals and that put Jasper as the middle man. It paid well, that was no lie, but it also put him on the Houston cops radar. While doing this for them he met a lot of people – clients Jasper called them.

As luck would have it, these people he met later hooked him up with Jenks.

It was a life Jasper said he enjoyed and it had him earning a ton of cash without really doing much of anything. He had started a trend of dropping money off for his mom wherever she was working – this way he got to see her. She never saw him of course though.

He was 16 when he was making his normal runs and stopped by the diner he expected his mother to be, but she wasn't there and no one had heard from her all day.

He told us he knew instantly where she was and what was going on. He knew he should have just stayed away but it was his mother so he went anyways. When he threw open the door of the trailer and found his mother crying in the kitchen cleaning up her own blood, he lost it. She tried to stop him, but there was no stopping him. He marched to the back of trailer, catching Mitch off guard, and starting beating the shit out of him.

Mitch managed to get in a few good hits and one sent Jasper to the floor. While Jasper was down, Mitch headed back out to Julia to finish taking his anger out on her.

Jasper was up in a heartbeat and stumbled back out to where they were just in time to see his mother hit the ground.

He didn't even think – he pulled the gun he had in his waistband and shot Mitch without warning in the back.

And then he ran. He ran to the only people he felt he could trust. They sent him to Jenks who gave him a new ID, but in the end, Jenks turned state's evidence in another case and handed over his list of clients. The cops got the bad guys there were originally after and the juvenile who shot his step-father in the back.

Jasper was 17 when he was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center. The murder charged ended up being dropped and filed as self-defense, but they had a shit ton of other charges on him and in the end they gave him two options when he turned 18 either go to federal prison or join the military. He joined the military and discovered he was good at it.

When he got out, his record had been sealed and he was given a fresh start. In the army he had received sniper training as well as participated in black ops that required finesse and a special set of interrogation skills. These talents made him a target for many national agencies when he retired from the service after six years.

After weighing all of the pros and cons of his options, he decided the DEA was where he wanted to be so he signed on and moved everything he owned to Los Angeles at the age of 24. Not too long on the job luck would strike again and he stumbled onto Jenks totally by accident in the middle of making an illegal transaction.

He saw the opportunity and told Jenks that he wouldn't turn him in, if Jenks promised to provide services for Jasper at no charge – whenever he needed it, whatever he needed, and in any time frame.

If Jenks was busted again, he would go away for the rest of his life and no amount of trading client books would save his ass.

So like Jasper said he was motivated to help us.

"Damn dude." I said as I sipped by beer.

"Yeah but hey – it got us a connection for undercover work, right?"

"You killed a man." Emmett said.

"I've killed multiple, but you know you've killed a man too." Jasper countered. "At least the ones I've killed had it coming – your guy…"

"Hey now…I didn't mean to. It was an accident."

At that I laughed. I shouldn't have because it was just sort of wrong to laugh about something getting shot, but I couldn't stop myself with the look on Emmett's face.

"I was aiming for the deer and the dumbass walked in my line of fire, _after_ I'd pulled the trigger!"

And then I laughed harder. I'm blaming the alcohol because by that point we'd downed about half the bottle of whiskey and god knows how many beers.

"Where's you mom?" I suddenly asked.

"She's still in Houston but she's no longer living in the trailer and she no longer works 3 jobs. She's got a good man – one I approve of. He's an ex-Marine gunnery sergeant actually."

"I still don't understand fully the relationship with Jenks or how he's a lawyer." Emmett said.

"He needs a legitimate tax cover and he's got the degree so he went into business. He actually prefers to do the legal stuff but it's the illegal that gives him all his money. His real name is Andrew Jenkinson but the streets shortened it to Jenks when he started in that line of work."

"And as interesting as that is…I have got to hear this story about Emmett shooting someone while hunting." I said going back to Emmett's brief but very intriguing glimpse.

Jasper laughed under his breath and looked towards Emmett, who huffed before sipping his beer.

"Seriously, it wasn't my fucking fault. It was my first hunting trip that my dad actually let shoot some. We were out with a somewhat large group of guys and we had split into groups of 3 and went in separate directions. Dad and I were in the tree when I spotted a pretty large 10 point buck. Dad told me to aim and he signaled to his buddy that I was taking the shot. The next thing I knew, I pulled the trigger and the dumb ass had walked right into the path. Instantly killed the man.

"Of course it became an investigation and my father provided an eye witness account of the incident. The charges were dropped obviously but my father blamed me for what happened. Our relationship became_ strained_ to say the least."

"Shoot him too?" I joked.

"Thought about it multiple times, but unfortunately my conscious kept getting in the way." He chuckled. "No, instead I ran away, stole a motorcycle to get out of town and headed west. Never looked back. Still haven't looked back. No idea what my folks are up to."

"Not as interesting as I thought. Kinda sad actually." I said with a smirk.

"Got out here to LA, got into some trouble with the law before I turned 21 – just some minor offenses no jail time but it was strongly encouraged I join the armed forces as well so I joined the Marines, was medically discharged when I blew my right knee out. Joined the DEA by recruitment. That was about four years ago and then Jasper joined the team a year after I started."

"So that makes you guys how old exactly?" I asked.

"I'll be 29 in about a month…July 22nd to be exact." Emmett said.

"I'm looking at 27 in December, the 9th." Jasper said. "You?" He asked me.

"Just turned 26 a week or so before I relocated to LA. June 12th." I said and then watched as the nodded but then said nothing additional. I knew this meant it was story time.

"Jasper how much was in the file?" I asked.

"All of it." He said as he hung his head. "This will be for Emmett's benefit."

"Okay, so here's the story…" I said and told all the sordid details down to the fact that they _still_ don't know who killed my parents. Not a single shred of evidence that could lead them to the person who pulled the trigger that ended the life I knew.

I explained how it was coming to LA from Chicago and living with my Aunt and Uncle. How much everything changed for me but yet how much it improved. My mother's sister turned out to be the best guardian the states could have placed me with.

"Wait…I don't understand. Why is your last name Cullen." Emmett said with a confused look on his face.

"My Uncle legally adopted me to avoid headaches. My legal name is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. My father's name was Edward Masen. He married my mother Elizabeth. My mother's sister, Esme married Carlisle Cullen."

"Oh..." He said and I could still see the question behind his eyes so I nodded at him to go ahead and ask it and so he did. "I guess I just don't see how you can be okay with not using your father's name. Like I could totally get if Jazz dropped his dad's name or if I did, yet you seemed to love your father, very much and yet you use Cullen and not Masen."

"I didn't at first. I hated him for it and refused to use it, but then as time wore on and my wounds healed, I realized that not using Masen wasn't a slam against my parents, but not taking Cullen was hurting my Aunt and Uncle. They wanted me to have their name to help open doors and to stop any possible confusion and ridicule I would get having a different name from my _parents_."

I realized as I talked to them about what had happened in my past, that it was the first time since moving to LA to live with Carlisle and Esme that I had spoken about the events in Chicago. It brought back emotions I thought I had moved passed.

It seemed now more like I had suppressed and hidden rather than conquered and moved on.

"Let's toast to forgetting pasts." Jasper spoke up and slid yet another shot in my direction.

I took it greedily.

The three of stayed at the bar and finished the bottle of whiskey after deciding it was better than going home by ourselves and thinking about what the girls were up to.

By 1:30, we were all three completely and utterly wasted and what's the one thing you do when you're drunk?

You text the one person you can't get off your mind.

"Em…what…" Jasper started but hiccupped before he could finish. "Ha! I'm drunk…whatcha doing over there?" He finished with a very heavy southern drawl.

I noticed then that Emmett had his phone out of his pocket and with only one eye open he was staring at it.

"Texting Rosie." He said then stuck his tongue out of his mouth in concentration.

"Good idea!" I said and Emmett whipped his head in my direction.

"Why would you text my Rosie?"

"Your Rosie?" Jasper slurred.

"Not Rose but Bella. She's so gorgeous." I said and pulled my phone out too.

_**Bella…beautiful Bella…I hope tonight is going well. Wish this morning had gone differently. Please call as soon as you're awake – E**_

At least that was what I had typed in my head.

When I rolled off of the couch at what I thought was Jasper's and onto the floor at 10 that morning, the first thing I did was check my phone to make sure I hadn't made a fool of myself.

What I had actually sent to Bella at 2am wasn't even English and made absolutely no sense at all.

At least she would know I was drunk and not read too much into my text.

I wasn't surprised that she hadn't texted back or that she hadn't called yet that morning seeing as they probably hadn't gotten back to their apartment until 4:30 or so.

"Uuuugggggghhhhh." I heard a groan come from the other side of the living room.

I slowly got my sorry ass out off the floor and back on the couch only to see Emmett sprawled out on the floor not far from me, but on the other side of chair. All I could see was the top of his head.

"Why the hell are you here? Don't you live just across the hall?" I said as I rubbed my temples hoping to ease the massive headache that was slowly making itself known.

"I couldn't find my keys." He responded but it was muffled. "Think I left them in Jazz's car last night."

I nodded my head, not that he could see me, but instantly stopped when it made my head feel like it was a second away from exploding.

It had been a long time since I had a hangover like the one I was experiencing then and as much as it hurt to move, I knew the only thing to make myself feel better was to get up and get moving, drink some water to rehydrate, and eat something.

"Jasper got any food in this place?"

"Usually." Emmett grunted as he rolled over onto to his back before slowly sitting up. "Fucking-a."

"Right." I sighed before dragging my sorry ass to the kitchen to check things out. "He's got cereal and…more cereal."

"Don't want cereal – thought of milk makes me wanna throw chunks."

"Nasty ass. Wouldn't have mattered anyways, no milk." I said looking in the fridge.

"What kind of asshat has cereal but not milk?"

"The kind that was too busy to go to the fucking store. Got a problem with my food selection go buy your own shit and start eating at your own place." Jasper from behind the both of us.

"Morning." I said.

"Mornin'. Whiskey might have been a bad idea."

"Maybe." Emmett and I both answered.

"Let's go get food. We can walk just down the street to little place that serves breakfast all day." Jasper suggested. We both agreed, put our shoes on, and still looking completely hung-over left his apartment and headed to this diner.

Seeing how we all three obviously felt like hell, I wasn't at all surprised when the conversation was kept to a minimum while we ate.

I knew we were all feeling a little better though when the conversation picked up and Emmett asked a question I was surprised hadn't come up during the previous evening's activities.

"You date much?" He asked looking at me.

"Not even a little bit. I haven't had a relationship since college and even that wasn't worth writing home about. Ever since then it's been one night stands or booty calls to girls willing to sleep with me but not date me. Why?"

"Just curious with your obvious attraction to Miss Swan – wanted to make sure you weren't getting into relationship drama."

"I just moved to LA and the only people I've seen are you two losers and my aunt and uncle so please tell me who the hell I would be in relationship with?" I laughed.

"Could have left someone behind in New York." Jasper shrugged.

"What about you two assholes?"

"Nope never been in a relationship. Growing up it my situation wasn't really ideal, as you know, and then I got career focused in the Army and then immediately the DEA as well." Jasper said.

"Been almost 2 years since he got some." Emmett said under his breath.

I was momentarily speechless. Two years? That's a long fucking time to go without sex. I was biting people's heads off if I went longer than two months…and as it turned out I was approaching that milestone rather quickly.

"I've never been one to _need_ it like most guys. I like female companionship, don't get me wrong there, but I'd rather it mean something than just a way to get myself off and relieve stress."

"You're not a man." Emmett said. "I gotta have it – a lot. No relationships for me though. Tried it before I got into the DEA and it didn't work. Tried it after I got in the DEA and it definitely didn't work then either. Girls are needy and the DEA doesn't have a set schedule then they get pissy when you have to cancel last minute on plans because you have to do a raid. And then they get weepy when they find out you're going into danger. And don't even get me started if you tell them you got shot or even shot _at._"

"Too much fucking work. Don't need the stress of a relationship and the job." Jasper said.

"So…" I said thinking about Rose and Alice _and_ Bella. I wasn't really sure where to take my question from there so I left it hanging like that hoping one of them would pick up on where my thoughts were headed.

I had never tried an actual relationship after becoming a DEA agent so I had absolutely no experience in the issues they were talking about, but I could definitely see it being an issue.

I couldn't, however; see that being the way Bella would act. She's a cop's daughter after all. She knows the routines and the demands of law enforcement.

"I think I'd be willing to try for Alice. Something about that little one. She had me when she hissed at Rosalie about hating her the night we arrested them" Jasper laughed.

I couldn't remember Alice saying anything before he had the cuffs on her, but I was also off in my own little world.

"That was pretty funny actually. Rose is hot but I still don't know about a full on relationship with her. Besides, I don't really read her as a relationship type of chick. She's only 21 for fuck sake. She's got a lot of partying left in her."

"It doesn't really matter fellas because while we're all undercover, we can't really do anything about it anyways. It's gonna be hard enough meeting up with them so they can share any information they got while working." I said with bitterness.

They both noted my tone but neither said anything. Something I was surprised by as it seemed that they usually didn't let things slide.

I dropped money on the table and then stood before walking out of the diner. I couldn't go anywhere because my car was still at my condo where Jasper and Emmett had picked me up the night before. I really wanted to get home, but instead had to wait until they emerged from the diner.

Jasper took me home without even asking if that's where I wanted to go, told me to take a shower, and then meet back at his place by 1:00 so we could call the girls.

I nodded in agreement with the plan then shut the car door before heading up to my place.

After stepping out of the shower I had no more wrapped a towel around me when my phone started ringing. I was going to just ignore whoever was calling me but when I picked it up to silence it, I realized it was Bella.

"Hello." I answered quickly and near a panic.

"_Hi." _She replied shyly. _"Hope I'm not waking you."_ She added with a hint of a giggle. My eyes narrowed at her cheekiness.

"As a matter of fact you didn't. I just got out of the shower and was getting ready to put some clothes on to meet the boys when you called."

I was met with a silence.

"Bella?"

"_Oh sorry…Rose had…uh…she was talking to me too. So how ya feeling?"_

"The funny one today are ya?"

"_You boys must have had one hell of a party last night judging by the text messages we received when we got back to our car."_

"It was fun, yes. And I feel fine, thank you."

"_Sure ya do."_

"Was there a reason besides giving me a hard time that you called?" I said smiling. Her laugh rung through the phone and my smile naturally got bigger.

"_Yes. We were just wondering what the plan was for today? We're up and ready to do whatever, just gotta know where and when."_

"Alright well as soon as I'm dressed I'm headed over to Jasper's where I think we were going to figure it out from there. I'll call you back once we decide on a safe meeting place."

"_Safe meeting place?"_

"Just being overly precautious." I laughed.

"_Oh…well so you'll call back in…about an hour then?"_

"Probably."

"_Okay then. Soon. Bye."_ She said and then she was gone. I stood there staring at my phone for a few more seconds before dropping it on the table and finished getting ready.

After Bella called, it made me anxious – well more anxious than I already was to see her again which is why I was at Jaspers a little before 1:00.

He didn't seem all that surprised to me early. Emmett was over there as well which didn't surprise _me_.

"Let's call." I said as soon as he opened the door.

"Bella call ya?" Jasper asked with a smile. I raised an eyebrow at him in question. "Alice called me." He shrugged.

"Rose called me…she didn't say much at first cause she was laughing her ass off." Emmett said smiling.

I couldn't help but laugh at the three of us. We were a mess and we needed to get our heads on straight before we truly started the undercover work.

"So where we telling them to meet us?" I asked.

"Here." Jasper said.

"You just want Alice to know where you live." I chuckled.

"Maybe." He laughed. "But it was actually Emmett's suggestion."

"Of course it was." I laughed as I dialed my phone then waited for Bella to answer. It didn't have to wait long. She picked up midway through the first ring.

"_So what's the plan? We've got a shit ton to share."_


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hoping to pick it up within the next chapter or so...get some action going in this story! **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

As soon as I got the directions to Jasper's place from Edward, I hung up and told the other two the plan.

We had spent the morning discussing what we all found out the night before and realized we really did have a lot of information. It helped that Rose was the bartender and was able to talk to the others all night.

Alice and I didn't really have much of a chance to socialize with the other staff, just Jessica and there wasn't anything there to tell except she was a bitch. The boys wouldn't care much about that, but we would tell them anyways.

I didn't mention the scene I walked in on in VIP with James and Victoria figuring I'd wait until we were all together so as not to have to deal with overreactions twice.

Sunday had always been our day to relax and catch up on neglected house work and it appeared Los Angeles would be no exception to that. We spent the morning tidying up the apartment and getting everything in its appropriate spots in the apartment. It also meant laundry day. Since we had a bunch of new clothes, we needed to wash those plus our normal stuff. This of course also meant that none of us really had much to wear. Good thing we were just going to Jasper's for the day because after we all showered to get the smell of smoke off of us, we threw on jeans and tank-tops with flip-flops and minimal makeup.

We did go ahead and do our hair, not that Alice had much choice. Her new cut required styling. But we wanted to show off the new looks to the boys. We were proud of them and it would be the first time they saw our new looks.

Alice was nervous the most since she lost about 15 inches of hair total. It was drastic and she was worried Jasper wouldn't like it.

Rose and I both tried to convince her that we were pretty sure she could shave her head and he'd still drool over her.

"I'm driving today bitches." I said as I snatched the keys off the counter when we headed out the door

It was about 1:30 by the time we left the apartment to head over to Jasper's and I was surprised when it only took us about 15 minutes to get to his place.

The building looked to have been recently renovated. There were multiple balconies on the front but also on the sides as well. It looked to be about four stories. I knew from Edward's directions that Jasper's apartment was on the top floor and that currently the elevator wasn't working.

I found parking on the street around the corner from the building's entrance and as we exited I felt like we were being watched. I did a quick scan of the area but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"What?" Rose asked as she realized I was looking around somewhat nervously.

"We're being watched." I said as I looked at her and Alice. They both then scanned the area as well. "And I'm not being paranoid. I feel their eyes on us."

"I don't see anything…" Alice said.

"YO!" A booming voice from above shouted. The three of us jumped before looking above us.

"DAMN-IT EMMETT!" Rose shouted back.

"ARE YOU THREE JUST GONNA STAND THERE ALL DAY OR WHAT?" He grinned widely.

"Asshole." Rose mumbled but with a smile. "He's like a two year old."

"You like it." I laughed at her which got me a playful shove before we walked around the corner to the door. There wasn't anything special about the lobby, just the stairs, the mailboxes, the laundry facilities, and the elevator which currently had a sign on it warning everyone it wasn't working.

We all eyed the stairs before sighing and heading up.

At the top of the stairs, we all stopped to catch our breath.

"We need to get back into shape. That's pathetic." Alice said.

"No kidding. We've got the free fitness room at the apartment we can use so that helps." Rose reminded us. Alice and I both nodded in agreement with her then the three of us looked around the hallway we were in.

It was really nice. It wasn't your typical apartment building hallway. Everything just looked brand new and the flooring was wood not nasty carpet. There were only two units on the floor and they right across the hall from each other.

"Hope Jasper gets along with his neighbor." Alice said as we approached the door with 4A on it.

Before we could even knock, it swung open to reveal Emmett.

"Welcome!" He said then stepped aside to let us in.

"You always answer someone else's door?" I asked teasing.

"Jasper's in the kitchen doing something. He asked that I get the door when you guys got here."

"What were you doing standing there looking through the peephole waiting on us?" Rose asked.

"Pretty much." Edward's smooth voice filled the room and I looked away from Emmett and locked eyes with Edward who was leaning against the wall at the end of the entrance. "I see you not only got new clothes yesterday."

"Do you like?" I asked not sure why I wanted his approval.

Oh who was kidding? I knew exactly why I wanted his approval and it made me both giddy and nervous at the same time.

"I love it and Jazz is going to go apeshit over Alice's." He said with a smirk looking at Alice. Her smiled grew exponentially.

"OH SHIT! I didn't even notice." Emmett laughed brining my attention back to him which is when I noticed he had his arm draped across Rose's shoulders who in turn looked quite comfortable with it.

"How could you not notice – she lost a foot and half of hair." Rose laughed.

"I was looking at you." He said mischievously before glancing back and down at her ass.

"Oh my god." I laughed then walked away and found my way into the kitchen. Edward followed as did everyone else eventually.

When I got there, I found Jasper putting finishing touches on what appeared to be tea and maybe lemonade.

"This is why we're at my place and not Emmett's or Edward's." He grinned.

The comment made me laugh. "I figured you were just closer."

"Technically speaking, Edward's condo is closer to you guys, but…well with going undercover if you guys were being followed it was safer to have you come to this building. No way of knowing which unit you went into from outside. Ed's condo is all outside so they could watch you go into his apartment."

I didn't want to freak him out and tell him that Emmett had been all but hanging from the balcony when we arrived and if we actually had been followed, which we weren't, then they would have been able to figure it out.

"I see…what about Emmett's?" I asked.

"He's just across the hall actually but I'm positive my place is cleaner."

I had no doubt that was probably the truth. From behind me I heard a giggle and knew that Alice had entered the kitchen with us. Of course even if she hadn't of giggled I probably would have still been able to tell because Jasper went into what I could only describe as a trance. He was fixated on her.

"I'll just…" I said then stopped because neither of them was paying a damn bit of attention to me so I left the kitchen and made myself comfortable in the living room, on the couch.

I noticed Edward was out on the balcony talking on his phone with his back towards the glass doors and Emmett had Rose on the "grand" tour describing how his place was exactly a mirror image of Jasper's.

Without much thought on my part, I found myself turning back towards the gorgeous man on the balcony. He was clearly a very animated talker. I couldn't hear what he was saying but judging by the amount of movement his hands were doing, he was aggravated about something.

My gaze traveled south a little bit and was focused on his ass in the tight jeans he had on when I realized he had turned around and I was no longer looking at his ass. My eyes snapped up to his face only to find a sexy ass smirk full on in place.

So I shrugged my shoulders and winked. His smirk got bigger before he turned back around. I had been caught staring but I sure as hell wasn't embarrassed by it.

A few seconds later he walked back inside right as Emmett, Rose, Alice, and Jasper all made their appearances as well. If I hadn't known better I would have thought it was planned.

Edward instantly sat down next to me on the couch, rather closely but I wasn't going to complain. Alice plopped down next to him, Jasper picked the chair next to the end of the couch Alice was sitting leaving the floor for Rose and Emmett.

"Why do I always get stuck with the floor?" Emmett whined but neither Jasper nor Edward said anything in response.

"So ladies…Bella said you had tons of shit to tell us." Edward said looking over at me.

"Yep, but first we have some questions for you." I said with a smile. "We don't expect you to answer all of them, but it's just some things we were thinking about.

"Ok." All three answered quickly yet with slight hesitation.

"How are you guys going in undercover?" Rose asked. "And when?"

"When is easy. This coming Saturday night." Jasper answered.

"How is a little more complicated." Edward mumbled.

"We don't need details, in fact I think we don't really want details. But do just want to have a slight heads up on the situation I guess." Rose commented.

They all nodded in agreement and then proceeded to explain their undercover identities.

"Drug trafficking?" I said with no expression. Maybe it had just been me, but I had been under the impression they were just going in to keep an eye on us while we did the poking around. "I don't like it." I huffed.

Alice and Rose both seemed to agree with me.

"We needed something besides three random guys. We can't exactly be in there every damn night if we're not trying to get a connection." Emmett said.

"There's information we can only get as buyers from Denali. We need bank information and that's not stuff you're gonna get from him."

"How do you even know he'll take the bait?" Rose asked.

"Because he needs Chicago. He has New York, LA, and we believe Houston and Miami. Nothing in Chicago yet. The mob has kept him out. He'll beg us to use him." Jasper commented.

"Still don't like it." Alice said.

"We'll still be safer than the three of you." Edward sighed. "At least we'll have guns to protect us and what not."

"I have a gun." I shrugged like it was no big deal, because it wasn't. All three of their heads whipped to my direction. "My dad was a cop…of course I have a gun."

"But then why…in New York why didn't you…" Edward stuttered.

"It's not registered." I laughed. "I don't use it and certainly don't carry it around with me – ya know unregistered hand gun can cause issues. It's in my room for safety from intruders. And even if I had had it with me in Peter's apartment in New York, it would have been in my purse which was in the living room when they were killed. We were in the bathroom and went out the window."

"Think you could conceal it in the club?" Emmett asked seriously.

"Not anywhere on her person." Rose snorted. "Our outfits barely allow space for our bodies let alone a gun."

That got a look from all of them for sure and pretty sure a growl from the one sitting next to me causing an involuntary chill to run down my spine.

"Okay so drug traffickers from Chicago…working with the mob I assume otherwise you wouldn't be able to guarantee his in to the city. That's all you can tell us, right?" Alice said changing the subject back.

"Yes." Jasper answered.

"What about backgrounds as I'm sure James will check up on your three?" Rose asked.

"Covered." All three answered simultaneously telling us, without telling us, that they couldn't give us details on that one.

"Your turn." Emmett said. "Let's start with shopping. Learn anything there?"

"You betcha." Alice grinned. "Starting with Laurent knowing more than he lets on. I'd almost bet he's actually James's right hand _man_. I mean think about it? Totally unexpected right so it's perfect."

"He had entirely too much cash to just be the manager of the club or whatever he is…still haven't figured out what his exact job is." Rose said. "He said the money was James's but that doesn't make sense either. It was all just weird."

"But he is definitely a gossip. Pretty sure Riley and Bree we're _dealt_ with. They came in late one day…" Alice started the story

"Probably the day we got the info from them and sent them back in." Jasper interjected.

"More than likely. James and Victoria called them into his office…"

"Victoria?" Edward asked looking at the boys.

"We think she's his girlfriend. They're always together. Fiery redhead…really not all that attractive if you ask me." Emmett said.

"They're together but they have an understanding and they're not exclusive. Also, I'm pretty sure there's something else there – like some sort of business partnership, but we'll get to those details later." I said.

"So James and Victoria called the other two into their office but then no one ever saw them exit it and then they were reported missing by their families."

"Son of a bitch." Jasper mumbled as he ran his hands over his face. "What else?"

"Felix and Demetri are James's bodyguards. Felix is _always_ next to James. I wouldn't be surprised if he held his dick for him while he pissed." Rose crudely commented.

"Very poetic Rosalie." I laughed. She just shrugged in response.

"Four additional bartenders other than Rose. Alec, Marcus, Caius, and Eleazar…"

"Known associates." They all said.

"From my observances last night, they deal to customers at the bar. Only Marcus and Caius actually ever hand off the drugs, looked like a white substance, so cocaine or heroin I would imagine. Alec and Eleazar take _requests_ but then pass them on to the other two. I also have a sneaky suspicion that the shot Liquid Cocaine, literally contains cocaine if ordered by the right people. There doesn't seem to be any type of code words, it's simply if you've been okayed I guess to be customers. Like Bells could go up and order the shot and get the clean one…James orders it and it would have a trace of the drug in it." Rose prattled on.

"Fucking hell." Edward said both shocked at the information and amazed that Rose was able to pull so much info in one night. "How did you…"

"Like I told the girls…Alec apparently likes tall blondes with big boobs. Plus I'm observant and they're not as smooth with as they think they are."

"So do you two have anything more?" Jasper asked looking at Alice and me.

"Of course. I had to take the dancers their drinks last night. Based on the info Rose provided, I can tell you that they're all users and probably suppliers as well. I would imagine to out of building clients though…like _special_ clients if you know what I mean." She said with a suggestive wiggle of the eyebrows.

"Drugs _and_ prostitution..." Edward laughed.

"That's how it appeared anyways." She shrugged. "Laurent gave us names but nothing additional on them and since they didn't talk at all to me when I was back there I don't have much detail on them."

"And that leaves me. I received the honor of being the new waitress for the VIP section, which means James's room. After he arrived I took him his regular order, when I got there Felix let me inside without any issues, but I walked in on James holding Victoria by the neck against the wall…and it wasn't some sort of sexual thing. He was mad about something. All I caught was him telling her harshly to 'tell him we had a deal.' Of course no idea who _he_ is that he had a deal with or what the deal is but I think that's kinda big news."

"YOU WALKED IN ON HIM CHOKING HER!" Rose and Alice screeched.

"YOU STAYED IN THERE AFTERWARDS?" Edward said standing quickly from the couch and looking down at me. "Do you realize how much danger you could have possibly been in? What if he had decided you'd seen too much? Jesus Christ…"

"He's not going to hurt her." Jasper said. "He's not gotten what he wanted from her yet."

That didn't help Edward's state of mind. He stopped pacing and glared at Jasper. Jasper just shrugged his shoulders.

"You know I'm right." Jasper added. "Why do you think she got the VIP section? He likes her. She's not at all what he usually goes for…she's attractive for one, brunette for another. He's always shown more interest in blondes and red-heads, and not usually very pretty ones as you can tell by Victoria."

"Um…hello! I'm sitting right here. Please do not talk about me like I'm not in the same damn room. Thanks." I huffed. "Look…I know Edward's not gonna like this, but clearly since James has a thing for me, we're going to have to use that our advantage."

"No." Edward, as expected, quickly said.

"She's got a point." Rose said. "I don't like it either, but we are women and if using our feminine allures gets us more intel for you guys, isn't that a plus?"

"It could work in our advantage that's for sure." Emmett mused.

"You're not gonna fuck these animals to get information for us!" Edward demanded.

"Who the fuck said anything about fucking anyone?" I yelled at the same time Rose and Alice both said 'what the fuck.'

"We're certainly not fucking any of you and we've got a shit ton of information." Alice said standing up from the couch now glaring at Edward.

"You stick your foot in your mouth a lot bro." Jasper shook his head while Emmett tried to hold back laughs.

"We weren't going to sleep with anyone to get information. Men are very easy to manipulate." Rose grinned slyly.

"Well I don't like that implication either darling." Jasper said in a southern drawl that I noticed cause Alice to literally swoon as she sat back down on the couch.

"Look can we please get back to business? We've established that Edward doesn't think before speaking, we're not going to be sleeping with anyone that works at that nasty ass club, and we're going to use other _means_ to work our way into the middle of everything. If that covers all that needs to be talk about today, I'm starving and I'm thinking about ordering a pizza or Chinese food if you all are interested." I said smiling at the group of people surrounding me.

"Chinese if you're taking suggestions." Emmett said.

"Excellent." I said right as my phone rang. I looked at Rose and Alice nervously knowing that the only other people outside of the ones in that room that had that number were my parents.

I grabbed my phone off the table quickly glancing at the caller ID before answering it.

"Dad?" I asked.

'_Bells…are you okay? What the hell is going on down there? Where the hell are you? Why is a man from the DEA…THE DEA for crying out loud…calling me asking about you and if you'd do something illegal?"_

"Who called you from the DEA?" I asked eyeing Edward who was looking rather sheepish.

'_Some kid said his name was Agent Seth Clearwater or something. He called a day or so ago but I wasn't able to get back to a place with a signal until just now. Your mother called me panicked too saying they called her as well. What the hell is going on? What have you gotten yourself into Isabella?'_

"Relax Dad. I'm not in any legal trouble. I can't give you details, but I can tell you that Rose, Alice, and I are not in legal trouble with the DEA. In fact we're assisting with a case. They were just doing checks on us, I guess." I said narrowing my eyes at Edward yet again. "We're fine and safe in Los Angeles. I know your cop spidey-senses are on full blast right now, but please please trust that we're okay and under no circumstances are you to come down here."

'_I may be retired Isabella but I'm still a cop and I will protect you if…'_

"I know dad and I appreciate it, I do and so do the girls, but we are protected. We have three agents on us full time. We're fine. We're just consulting on a case for them that we have specific knowledge of. Please promise you'll stay in Alaska."

'_Fine I promise. For now anyways.'_ He said and I could sense the smile through the phone. _'Still got that gun I gave you?'_

This time I laughed. "Of course I do. I even clean it like you showed me so it's always good to go if needed. I have to go now but I promise to check in as soon as I can but I can't tell you how often that will be."

'_Yeah yeah Bells. I know how UC work goes...no news is good news. Got it. Just be careful.'_

After a heavy sigh and a good-bye, I hung up the phone with my father and then turned a massive glare on Edward.

Rose beat me to saying anything to him though.

"What the hell?" Rose asked. "Does this mean you've called all of our parents?"

"I didn't personally. Before I came out to Los Angeles, we pulled your personal background and family information. My partner in New York just called me yesterday to tell me they finally made the phone calls to your families to try and get background."

"So you scared the hell out of our parents?" I asked. "My father was freaking out! Didn't this _Seth_ give them any information at all or just that he was DEA and checking up on us?"

"I don't know what Seth told them, but I know what he's not _allowed _to tell them. I also know that if he hadn't made the calls when he did, Alice's parents would be here right now dragging her ass back to Phoenix!" Edward said raising his voice in his own defense.

"WHAT?" Alice shrieked. "Are they coming here? I can't deal with them right now…they're ridiculous and too much for me to handle on top of everything else!"

"They're not coming." Jasper said laying a calming hand on her hand.

"After Seth had a phone call with them and their lawyers he was able to convince them they would be arrested if they showed up." Edward said with a slight chuckle.

"What about my father?" Rose asked and as we watched the three boys shift nervously and look everywhere but at Rose or Alice and I. "He's in prison, isn't he?"

"Wait so you're father's a criminal?" I asked, the only one really looking all that shocked

"A dirty politician actually had him in his pocket." Rose sighed.

"You knew?" Emmett and Edward both asked.

"Of course I knew. He's not exactly smart – obviously."

"So what, Bella's dad is a retired cop turned ice-road trucker, Rose's dad is a criminal, my parents are fucking insane…what about your parents?" Alice laughed. "Come on, what about your parents? You know all about our fucked up ones."

"Umm…" They all hesitated.

And that just made me curious. I decided then that if they had our personal history, I was getting their personal history. Just like Alice said it was only fair after all, they knew ours.

Tit for tat and all that jazz.

That was what I was trying to convince myself the reason was behind my unhealthy need to know everything about the man that had found his way in to all I did or thought.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: I didn't forget about you! Just been super busy with RL - between family drama (don't we all love it...), my friends having babies, and me getting a new job I've been stretched pretty thin not leaving much time for my brain to be creative. This also means this one is slightly on the short side, but hoping I can bring this back to some sort of posting schedule. I can't make promises though - but I can promise that I will always finish it so if I've been gone for a while - no need to panic. :-) **

**Thanks for sticking with me and reading and reviewing! You're all awesome!**

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

Should have known the girls would want to know about our pasts since we knew about theirs, just wasn't really prepared to tell all three of them.

Telling Bella? Wasn't even sure I was ready for her to know, but she was the one I wanted to know.

"They're not filled with rainbows and butterflies." Emmett snorted.

"And what ours are?" Rose said arching one of her eyebrows but of course we knew ours were worse.

Bella's parents were still alive, just on opposite ends of the country and Alice's parents were just crazy deranged rich folk. Rose might have the only story somewhat as messed up as ours. Her mother wasn't anywhere in the picture and in fact we didn't even have information on her. It was like she didn't exist and her father was now in a federal prison awaiting trial.

We all three remained silent hoping the girls would catch on that our stories really were _that_ bad.

Alice wasn't having any of it though.

"Okay so they're apparently pretty nasty, but we're your friends now – or at least I consider us friends. And I'd like to think we would share our stories with each other if we were in normal circumstances so why should this be different just because we're _working_ for you right now?"

"Would you have willingly shared with us?" Jasper asked.

"If you had asked, yes." She replied and Rose and Bella both nodded. Rose only slightly hesitant – which made sense. She was the only one tied illegally to anything. Even though she wasn't personally involved she benefited from her father's activities.

"Totally off subject…" I interrupted as I thought of something more than a little important. "Rose, your money that was in your trust fund…"

"Damn you do know everything." Rose laughed but also had that 'I know what you're about to ask' look in her eyes.

"Should we expect you to get a visit from a cop or someone about your money?" I finished.

"Nope." She said popping the 'p' at the end and grinning. Alice was also grinning. "I don't have any money. All of my money – except for a couple thousand is in Alice's name. When I closed out my trust fund in Phoenix when Alice and I skipped town, we kept the cash on us and then in New York City, the only account we had was Bella's so we were still carrying a shit ton of cash on us in a safe. When we got here and opened up bank accounts to get the apartment, we deposited all the cash into Alice's account and the only money I kept was what I had earned after Phoenix – without my father's crookedness."

"It was a birthday gift." Alice laughed.

Bella was sitting on the couch with her mouth wide open and looking somewhat pissed at her best friends.

"I'm so glad you two felt the need to hide this shit from me!" She finally erupted.

"Plausible deniability." Rose shrugged her shoulders not affected by Bella's tone at all. "Plus it wouldn't look strange if Mary Alice _Brandon_ from _the_ Phoenix Brandon's who own half of the damn city had roughly $20 million in multiple accounts spread around."

"$20 million!" Jasper said as he choked on absolutely nothing while Emmett let out a low whistle. I, of course, knew how much was pulled from the trust accounts but since it wasn't pertinent to the case it was kept from reports.

"Rich fucking bitches." Bella mumbled under her breath. Rose and Alice both heard her but neither acknowledged her.

"Stories please." Alice said returning us back to the original topic.

"Fine. Do you want fucked up, more fucked up, or most fucked up first?" I asked with a humorless chuckle. They all stared at me for a second before Bella spoke.

"I want to hear your story first." She said looking at me.

And so we were started with me. After I told my story about my parents and moving in with Carlisle and Esme in Los Angeles, they were sad and sympathetic as would be expected.

What wasn't expected was how Bella curled into my side and gave me a hug – and then stayed there.

Emmett's story wasn't any better of course and caused even more sadness to enter the atmosphere. And then Jazz gave his story, minus our connection with Jenks now.

I could tell by his expression and the worry in his eyes that he was afraid Alice wouldn't approve of him after knowing his past.

He should have known better because as soon as he finished, she was hugging him tightly and whispering in his ear. None of us could hear what she was saying but we could see Jasper nodding.

"We're your friends no matter what you did in the past. The past made you the person you are today and I really like that person." Alice said as she finally pulled away from him.

He smiled at her and then out of nowhere reached up, put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. Just flat out laid one her in front of all of us.

"Woohoo Jazz! Get it!" Emmett boomed which was followed by snickering from Bella and I but a smack on his arm from Rose who was sitting next to him.

"Sorry." Jasper said after pulling away from Alice.

"Why? I'm sure as hell not." Alice giggled then plopped herself down on his lap. "I'm still hungry. Thought we were ordering in Chinese?" She said looking at Bella.

"On it boss." Bella said as she stood up from the couch, effectively taking her warmth away from my side. I instantly missed the connection and didn't like the feeling of her not being there. I knew I was staring after her, but I didn't realize I had started pouting and frowning.

"She'll be right back." Alice snickered.

"JAZZ!" Bella yelled from the kitchen.

"Next to the fridge has all of my take out menus!" Jasper yelled back without Bella even asking her question.

"THANKS!" She shouted back before coming back into the living room and much to my pleasure sitting right back down in the spot she had vacated only seconds before. "Ok…so one of everything since Emmett's here." She said then winked towards the massive man on the floor who's stomach decided at that very second to make itself known to the world.

"Food!" He fist pumped the air causing the room to erupt with laughter.

"One of everything coming right up." Bella said as she dialed her cell phone to place the order, rattling off Jasper's address like it was her own.

The girls left that evening around nine o'clock after feasting on the massive amounts of food ordered. The hesitation behind them leaving was evident with everyone. We knew as they walked back down their car that we wouldn't see each other until Jasper, Emmett, and I showed up at the club as drug dealers and even then we had to keep our friendliness to a minimal since we weren't supposed to know each other.

The thought of not seeing Bella for a week saddened me deeply, but we had no choice. We just couldn't risk it. We were getting in to the nitty gritty part of the undercover work and from this point we would need to get creative with our meeting locations to go over any information any of us had for each other.

Of course this was if we could meet in person at all. It completely depended on how closely Denali started watching the three of us…and the girls.

The week was absolutely miserable. And not just because we were all in shitty moods but because on top of being in shitty moods, we were busy as hell at work. Between doing our regular weekly work which was basically keeping an eye on Denali and his movements, we had to secretly setup the undercover work we were doing off books.

Do you know how hard it is to get super expensive equipment when you can't tell anyone what you're doing? Yeah it came out of pocket for us. Luckily Jenks hooked us up on some things free of charge, but basically we had to provide our own surveillance equipment and non-DEA issued protection.

In other words, big guns and wires.

Due to the nature of the beast, we also had to find a new place to call home for a while – again out of our own pockets.

We rented a high priced penthouse suite at The Beverly Whilshire Hotel, Emmett of course asked for "The one they filmed Pretty Woman in because that movie is awesome!" after which Jasper and I both hit him upside the head causing the young woman behind the counter to smile.

Much to Emmett's disappointment though, the room used for the film wasn't actually in the hotel itself and had been created on a soundstage. The movie only used the outside of the building and lobby for the filming, which the manager very politely explained.

On top of getting a new place to stay, we also had to secure burn phones that couldn't be traced to anyone in particular, which was probably actually the easiest part of the whole damn thing.

By the time Saturday rolled around we were all set with everything. Jenks had called Jasper in late Thursday night to pick up our new IDs and backgrounds so we could get familiar with them before heading into the club Saturday night.

Thursday after Jasper picked up the goods, we all meet at the hotel to settle in for who knew how long. We packed enough to get us through, but due to the nature of the undercover, we basically only had suits and nicer things. Jeans were to only be worn around the hotel.

The Mob never wore jeans out to do any business – and if the Mob went out, they were doing business.

Of course wearing a suit jacket most of the time made it easier to conceal our weapons.

We locked ourselves in for the whole two days before heading to the bar around 10 o'clock on Saturday. After some discussion we decided to let Jasper take lead with Emmett and me sort of as his backup.

Emmett was built more for security so he was okay with not being the "lead". I was a little upset about the decision but conceded when Jasper explained that he wanted me solely focused on reading everyone and what their faces revealed.

The valet at the hotel brought our rented Cadillac around and then we were off to the bar.

"Still going to play it cool tonight and not ask any questions?" Emmett asked from the backseat.

"Yes that's the plan, but as we all know it could all change in a split second." Jasper said as we rounded the corner and pulled up curb side just down the street from the entrance.

"Think the girls are going to be able to pull the whole acting thing off?" Emmett asked again.

"We're going to hope so." I said as I placed my hand on the door handle. Before opening it, I looked at my two best friends and partners. "Game time boys. We ready for this?"

"Hell yeah!" Emmett said and Jasper nodded with a sly grin.

And in a matter of milliseconds, our doors were open and Edward Cullen no longer existed. I was Edward Flannigan, an Irish mobster from Chicago needing a new supplier.

As we approached the door, the bouncer took notice immediately. He straightened himself up to appear taller – quite comical actually as he was still much shorter than any of us.

"It's 30 a person tonight gentlemen." He said gruffly. We just nodded and handed him our money before he stepped aside and let us pass without searching or checking IDs.

After walking through the doors and turning a corner we came face to face with what our lives would be like for the next who knew how many nights.

There were about six girls on the stage for a routine, Alice was dancing along with them as she waited on Rose to fulfill a drink order and Bella was coming down the stairs directly to the left of us.

She hadn't seen us, but I sure as hell saw her.

"Excuse me Miss…" I said garnering her attention finally. When she first looked up she seemed irritated but that soon faded and was replaced with surprise.

She quickly recovered and moved toward us.

"Welcome to Noir." She smiled.

"Thank you." Jasper said. "We were hoping you could guide us to the best seats in the house."

"Hmm…well…I suppose that would be VIP up those stairs behind me, but as I've never seen you before I know you're not members…_yet_. The bar's a good place to be if you like that kind of thing, but if you're really looking for the best seat in the house, it's right there at that table." She said pointing us to a table about halfway back from the stage with a perfect view of Denali who was currently staring down at the four of us conversing.

"Excellent." Emmett said.

"Is there a waitress for that table?" I asked.

"You bet your sexy ass there is." She winked then walked away towards the bar where Rose and Alice had both caught sight of us as well.

After she walked away we slowly headed towards the table Bella had pointed out. As we sat down we angled ourselves so each of us had a view of a certain section. I was watching the bar, Emmett had his eye on the back door leading backstage and to the office, and Jasper was keeping an eye on the VIP section.

Just seconds later Bella was headed directly towards our table presumably to take our orders, but before she had a chance to get to us she was intercepted by Laurent (or at least he matched the description we had and he sort of looked similar to the picture we were able to pull from records).

He whispered something to her which caused her to narrow her eyes at him. They started arguing back and forth for a little while before Alice approached. Alice said something to Bella which seemed to calm her down.

Laurent walked away and then both girls started walking in the direction Bella had been headed, but Bella didn't stop at our table. Instead Alice did.

"Hi ya boys! She greeted with a smile. Name's Alice and I'll be filling in for Bella while she takes care of something. What can I get ya?"

"Just water." We all three answered.

"No can do. You gotta order either food or drinks. Minimum purchase amounts of $10 a person on Saturday nights. Plus it looks sort of strange three dudes coming in here only ordering water." She said with a pointed look.

Jasper snorted but seemed to agree with the point Alice was trying to convey. "Just make it three Jameson's and Coke."

"Sure thing." She said with a wink before bouncing off to the bar and up to a waiting Rose. Rose smiled then laughed at whatever Alice told her then began working on our drinks.

I really wanted to ask her about Bella when she returned with our drinks but knew I couldn't. I couldn't even hint on where our waitress might have gone.

"Okay boys…here ya go. Let me know if they're to your liking." Alice said as she set three short glasses in front of us.

I had to hide my shock when I took my sip of Coke – no alcohol.

"It's perfect darling." Jasper smiled.

"Excellent! Well Rose prepared them so when Bella comes back and takes your table back over just tell her that you want Rose to make your drinks every time you order and you'll be set." She smiled then went back to her side of the room to continue working.

We scanned the crowd looking for anyone who looked familiar but other than the employees no one stood out as members of Denali's team.

Bella reappeared about 30 minutes after going upstairs and came directly to our table.

"Sorry about earlier boys. Did Ali get you all taken care of?" She said appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

"Sure did." Emmett responded taking a swig of his drink finishing it off. "Jameson and Coke please but make sure the cute blonde thing behind the bar fixes it for me."

"Alec?" Bella said seriously before grinning.

"You're a funny one Bella, I think I'm gonna like you." Emmett laughed to which Bella smiled wider then headed towards the bar. It took her a while to get Rose's attention as it looked like maybe Rose was in some sort of heated discussion with Eleazar. And whatever they were talking about, Rose was beyond furious.

I slightly nodded in the direction of the bar to get the other two's attention. They casually glanced that way just in time to see Rose throw her hands in the air and turn the other direction towards Bella.

"Something pretty intense." Jasper mumbled. "Hate not having audio on them."

Emmett and I both agreed as we continued to watch the girls.

Bella pointed in our direction and Rose gave a flirty wave to us – or rather Emmett as that's where she seemed to be looking. Emmett puffed up his chest and winked at her as she set his drink down on Bella's tray.

"So boys are you new in town?" Bella asked as she set Emmett's glass back down. I arched an eyebrow at her in questioning worried about why she was asking for details on us. She knew the plan – no real conversing on the first night.

She frowned slightly and shifted herself so her back was to the VIP area before speaking again. "Inquiring minds."

Apparently we had already gotten his attention. That was good for us – _maybe_.

"We are in fact new to town. Here on business…well we think business." I said as I blatantly checked out her ass.

"Think we'll be seeing you around here much while you're in town?"

She was definitely on a fact finding mission for Denali.

"I would imagine. We're staying just down the street at The Beverly Whilshire hotel." Jasper answered, purposefully telling her where we were staying so she could relay the message to Denali.

"Fancy digs." She laughed. "So where ya from?"

"Chicago actually." I said.

"Really? Long way from the Midwest boys. What kind of business are you in that would bring you out this way? Suits are pretty nice…but you're not really lawyer types I'm guessing."

"Good eye." Emmett said grinning like a fool but didn't answer her question.

"Can we get two more Jameson's and cokes?" Jasper said taking lead on the conversation and telling her without really telling her that her fact finding mission was over.

She nodded then walked away but motioned at Alice who instantly skipped over to the bar and ordered from Rose as Bella walked the other direction and up to the VIP area.

Alice got our next two rounds before Bella reappeared on the floor.

It was another hour before Bella, almost seeming reluctant, approached our table.

"How are you boys doing? Last call is coming up…closing up shop at 2 tonight instead of 3."

Before I could say anything, I received a swift kick to the sheen from across the table. It hurt like a mother fucker, but because Jasper did it, it kept me from asking what was on the tip of my tongue; 'what the hell is going on?'

"Well that's a shame cutting our time together like that." He grinned like he hadn't just inflicted a massive amount of pain to me. "When do you work next?"

"I'll be here Tuesday night. Club is closed Sunday and Monday."

"Sounds like a plan then." Emmett said.

Bella nodded then walked away returning just moments later with 3 bills – for regular cokes all night.

_Well at least they weren't charging us for the alcohol that wasn't in our drinks._

I thought to myself as we all pulled out our cash.

Instead of leaving the cash on the table though, we all walked up to the bar and personally handed Bella the money.

$30 tabs each paid for with $50.

No change.

She was getting ready to protest so I just held up my hand.

"Service was excellent. Be seeing ya."


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Yet another surgery on my wrist otherwise this one would have been completed last week. It's longer than normal but there's a lot of information in it and no good place to split it up. We're seeing the first night the boys are in the club from Bella's perspective which I thought was something that was definitely needed. **

**Hope you enjoy it!**

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

"Ready for tonight girls?" Alice asked as we headed in to Noir. It was Saturday night and we were expecting the boys to show up sometime and start their undercover work.

"No." I nervously laughed. Alice and Rose had it easy; they weren't under the constant watch of James. If they slipped and acted too friendly with the guys the odds that Denali would notice was slim to none.

In the week we had been working at Noir James had, for the lack of a better term, _claimed_ me.

I was off limits to everyone and he was always watching me. Leering at me.

It was creepy as hell. Even if I hadn't known who, _what,_ he really was, I still would have been nauseated by the attention. He was greasy, slimy, and a pig. Up to that point he'd never actually put his hands on me inappropriately but he sure as shit took his time looking at me.

The attention provided by James of course made me enemies with others in the club, including Victoria. And that had me just about as nervous as James wanting to get _closer_ to me. There was something very sinister about Victoria and she was the only one of the girls who had it out for me that I thought I couldn't handle on my own.

Jessica was a joke. She was too afraid of Rose to ever actually do more than throw dirty looks my way and make smart remarks. That I could definitely handle and hand back to her.

The dancers; Tanya, Kate, Irina, Carmen, Heidi, and Jane were not fans either. The only good thing there is that it wasn't just me they hated. They hated all three of us.

So in our first week we hadn't made friends with anyone – of the female variety anyways.

Aside from James taking a liking to me, Alec and Marcus wanted Rose and were putty in her hands. They were easily distracted by her and it caused problems between Rose and the other two bartenders.

The other two (Eleazar and Caius) had taken a liking to our little pixie friend.

Technically that was good; we were in perfect positions to try and sweet talk some information for Edward, Jasper, and Emmett. It sucked that the girls all wanted our heads but the ones we really needed to be able to talk too seemed to enjoy our company.

The problem was that we knew that when Edward, Jasper, and Emmett arrived for that first night, they too would be playing like they were interested in us as a sort of mock cover for their constant appearances at the bar; I was worried that it was going to cause issues for everyone and make our jobs a little more complicated.

As it turned out, I had every right to be nervous.

James had just arrived at the club so I had taken him his first round of drinks. Expecting Victoria to be with him, I had taken his usual order; a bottle of Grey Goose, two glasses, a bucket of ice, and cigars but when I got into the room, it was just him.

"Oh! I brought your regular. Would you like me to bring something else for the evening since Victoria's not with you?" I smiled as sweetly as I could.

I noticed almost instantly that he had been drinking prior to arriving at the club.

"Of course not! I want you to enjoy it with me this evening. I sent Victoria off with one of her many boyfriends for the evening so I could enjoy your company a little more."

"I have to work the floor tonight James. I need the tips to pay rent." I lied.

"I'll pay you whatever you would have made on the floor." He said with slight anger.

"I appreciate the offer but we're slammed tonight and I can't leave Ali and Jessica to fend for themselves on the floor. It just wouldn't be right." I said thinking fast for an excuse. It was the truth – to a degree. They probably could have done just fine by themselves but I didn't want to spend the evening in VIP with James – and miss the boys.

I hadn't seen Edward in a week, or spoken to him so I was craving some time with him. It was sad but my first thought when James asked me to stay in VIP with him for the night was not of my safety but of the fact that I wouldn't get to see Edward.

"I understand I suppose. I don't like it, but I appreciate your hard work. You three are turning out to be quite an excellent investment on my part."

I didn't know what he meant by "investment" and I was sure I really didn't want to know. I also figured I shouldn't push my luck with him seeing as he was already drunk. In a week of working with him I had figured out he was loose cannon normally but after a few drinks, he was a _very loose_ cannon with a _very_ short fuse.

"Thank you for understanding James." I said as I started to turn to walk out.

He didn't say anything else but he did reach out his hand and run it down the length of my right arm.

I shivered but not out of pleasure…he of course assumed it was out of pleasure.

"Beautiful. Come see me again in an hour."

I nodded my acceptance before slipping out and heading back down the stairs. I was furious he had touched me. I was sickened by it. I wanted to rip someone's head off and I knew that I needed to get myself calmed down before facing any innocent customers.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to collect myself before I was approached by someone who had just walked in the door.

When he first spoke, the voice didn't register due to my mind being completed consumed with disgust and anger.

I know the look on my face when I first looked up at him had to be one of anger, or at least definitely not what he was expecting because his face instantly twisted from happiness to concern.

If Edward's facial expressions reacted every time I looked upset, he wasn't going to get very far with their undercover work.

I knew James was probably watching me so I quickly slapped on a smile and welcomed the three men to the club and then pointed them to a table in my section. I definitely didn't want them in Jessica's section and Alice was pretty full as it was.

After sending them on their way to the table, I headed over to Alice and Rose to let them know who was there and where I had sat them.

I should have known they'd already seen them though.

"Holy mother of…they're so damn sexy." Rose said under her breath as she took advantage of a rare slow moment.

"Tell me about it." I laughed as Alice just sighed dreamily. "Girl's got it bad."

"I think I'm in love." Alice giggled.

"You need to live in the real world." Rose said then walked away to take an order.

"I need to take an order." I winked then pushed off the bar and started their direction. It was then I noticed they had positioned themselves so they could watch every part of the club.

If I noticed it I knew James did.

I was halfway to their table when Laurent snuck up to the side of me.

"James wants to see you in VIP." He whispered.

"I was just up there." I argued back. The last thing I wanted to do was go back up to James.

"This is not a choice. He wants you up there now." Laurent said and it was the first time since I'd met Laurent that I actually felt slightly afraid of the man. Sure he was gay, but he was built to fight and at that moment I got my first glimpse at the man who would throw down if he had to.

But I wasn't going without a fight.

"Fine, but we have three new customers who need to have their order taken. They're in my section and I'm not going to ignore them just because _James_ wants to see me." I said through clinched teeth.

"Bells…" Alice said from the other side of me. I hadn't even heard her approached. "Bella…go. I've got it. You need to go."

She was right of course. I turned to her as Laurent walked away satisfied that I was going to do what I was told. I gave her a tight smile and then we both headed back towards the boys table.

I had to keep walking by the table though as Alice stopped. The feeling of what I guess had to be jealousy coursed through me as I heard her greet them cheerfully before I was out of range.

At the top of the stairs I was met by Felix who escorted me to James's private room.

It was the first time that had been done and it set an ominous tone for the trip up there.

"Isabella." James greeted solemnly; a complete 180 from his mood just 15 minutes earlier.

"James, what can I do for you? Would you like a different drink?" I asked knowing damn well he hadn't called me back up to his room for a freaking drink order.

"No Isabella. I want you to sit. We need to discuss something very important." He said then motioned for me to sit down next to him. "Felix please make sure no one comes close to this room until Miss Swan exits."

"Yes sir." Felix said. It registered moments later that it was the first time I had heard Felix talk. His voice was ridiculously deep and scary as hell. But not as scary as the look he shot me before disappearing.

"Now Isabella down to business. I need you to do something for me. It's very important. Can you do that for me?"

"Guess it depends on what it is." I whispered suddenly very concerned in the direction the little meeting was taking.

"Hmm…smart to not agree to anything before knowing details. I need you to gather some information for me."

"What kind of information?"

"Personal information from the three men that came in and that you _purposefully_ sat in your section." He said as he practically spit the word 'purposefully' out while simultaneously inching closer to me.

"I don't know them James…they seem rich, ya know like big tippers so I wanted them in my section…"

"Well yes they definitely seem to have a way about them I agree which is why I want you to get to know them."

"I don't understand." I said and even I could hear my voice tremble.

"Don't be afraid Isabella. I just want basic information from them. Their names, where they're from, why they're in town…easy stuff that I'm sure a beautiful woman such as yourself can get from them. I want you to go get the information and report back to me."

"Why?" I asked before I could help myself.

"Why what?" He smirked.

"Why do you want this information on these three? What's so special about them?"

"Hmm would you like the truth?" He asked seriously. I nodded that I did which earned me another smirk and a look of approval or satisfaction. He leaned into me and then whispered his reply into my ear. "I have a feeling that I either will want to go into business with them or…kill them."

I gasped both at his proximity and how honest he was with me.

No matter the reason why I did it, he chuckled darkly before pulling back from me again.

I sat there stiff as a board processing everything before I came to the conclusion that I had to do it. I had to go on a fishing expedition or James was probably going to hurt me.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and turned to face him.

"May I have that drink you offered me earlier? I need some liquid courage."

"Would you like it on the rocks or…"

"Just pour me a damn shot." I interrupted him. He chuckled again as he poured me a shot of the vodka. I instantly took it and tried so damn hard not to gag. "I'll be back once I've gotten all the information I think I can get."

"Good girl." He said then dismissed me.

_Good girl? Good girl?_ What the fuck? Do I look like a dog he can order around?

I stepped through the curtain and came face to face with a menacing Felix.

"Felix." I nodded.

"Miss Swan, you know that all conversations that go on between you and Mr. Denali are private. You are not to repeat _anything_ that is said on the other side of that curtain."

"I'm well aware Felix."

"Just want to make sure. I'd hate to have to…_hurt_…you."

I knew he didn't mean hurt. He meant kill. And I could tell by the way his eyes sparkled that he knew I understood what he really meant.

_What the hell just happened?_ Was this the beginning of me getting "in" to Denali's side business?

He and Felix both had just nonchalantly admitted that killing was a possibility for them?!

At the bottom of the stairs I stood in the darkness collecting my thoughts for a split second before heading directly over to the table to start my questioning.

The boys of course would know exactly what I was doing as soon as I started it though so that meant they'd only give me what they _wanted_ Denali to have. I would have to ease into the questioning to make James, who was still watching me, think I was really trying…so no questions off the bat.

"Sorry about earlier boys. Did Ali get you all taken care of?" I asked as I walked up behind them I think causing Emmett to jump a little and Jasper to laugh.

I took another order from Emmett and I had to hide my surprise when Emmett ordered an actual alcoholic beverage though. I would have thought they would have wanted to stay sober during their undercover work.

He mentioned that he wanted Rose to fix the drink, but I joked around a little trying to get them to warm up to me…or to make it appear that way to James.

I headed towards that bar to get the drink but found Rose in an argument with Eleazar. I was too far away to hear all of it, but occasionally Rose got loud enough that I caught the general idea of the fight.

He was mad because Alec and Marcus were doing more flirting than selling drinks. Of course he didn't really mean drinks. He meant the little white substance that they occasionally handed off to the customers.

Rose wasn't having any of the blame pushed to her though. And that's why their voices were raising and to a dangerous level. James would send Felix down in a minute if it continued. I caught a worried expression from Alice across the room and Laurent come out of the back so I acted quickly.

"Hey!" I shouted as I grabbed Rose's elbow. She stopped mid-sentence and looked at me. "I know he's an asshole but can we settle this _after_ closing time." I said then comically widened my eyes hoping to stress the point.

"Yeah we'll take care of this after closing time. Until then stay out of my way fucker." She said to him then walked to the other end of the bar.

"Nice." I laughed. "But right now you have a request. Big Guy wants another drink and he specifically requested you." I said pointing over towards Emmett and just like that, Rose was back to being flirty Rose. She waved over to the table and I watched as Emmett seriously expanded his chest and winked.

"Holy shit." I chuckled as I walked away with his drink on my tray realizing that he had requested Rose because they weren't drinking anything but Coke.

Realizing Rose and Alice arranged that during the first round of drinks, I smiled at my crafty friends.

But then it was to business.

As I asked them if they were new in town, I sounded nervous to my own ears and apparently Edward was worried about why I was asking questions since we had originally discussed not involving personal information on the first night. I had erroneously assumed they'd figure out what James had called me up to the VIP area for.

I had to get the reason to them somehow but I wasn't sure the best way, so I moved around the table putting my back to the VIP area and bent down closer to their ears, which really wasn't all that far even with me being in high heels.

"Inquiring minds." I said smiling. Edward nodded that he understood and answered my question…only after checking out my ass which I rolled my eyes at, only Jasper saw me do it though.

I moved on to my next question earning me a smirk from Jasper and the name of the hotel they were staying in which I guessed he did on purpose to give that info to James and for our personal benefit so we knew where to find them if we absolutely had to.

I got their "hometown" out of them but when I pushed for the type of business they were in, they shut me out and sent me back to the bar for more drinks.

Only I didn't deliver. I had Alice take them their drinks and then I headed back up to the VIP area. It was time for me to anyways to make sure he was good on his supply of alcohol and cigars.

"You did quite well Isabella." James said as he puffed on a cigar.

"Thanks I guess." I said and stayed standing. I wanted to make it a quick visit.

James had other plans.

"Sit." He commanded. I instantly did as I was told so as not to piss him off further. "Do tell me your findings."

"They just got into town. They're staying down the street at The Beverly Whilshire hotel. They're here on business…although I think they're looking for some fun if you know what I mean."

"I do know what you mean." James grinned wickedly. "Did you get where they're from?"

"Chicago." I whispered and at that his eyebrows shot straight up on his forehead.

"Really now? Very interesting. Did they give you any clue as to what type of business they're in town for?"

"No. I asked but they skirted the question and ordered more drinks sending me away basically."

"_Very_ interesting then." He said and then looked like he was pondering something.

"Would you like something else to drink?" I asked hoping to get out of there. There didn't really seem to be any point in me being up there if he was just going to sit there and think about something.

"No I'm fine. Did they say they would be back?"

"No."

"Did you get names?"

"No." I said and his nostrils flared with anger but he didn't say anything.

"Have another drink. It's not a question." He said as he slid a glass with ice and vodka in it and then turned quiet again for a few minutes longer than was comfortable for me.

"James…" I started to ask if I could return to the floor.

"Felix come here." He said ignoring me. Felix appeared in the doorway and waited instructions.

"Call Victoria in…tell her we're having a meeting in my office at 3:00." He said then glanced towards me. "Tell her I want her _friend_ to join us this time. I need input from him."

"It will be via phone as he's currently in New York still working that…" He said then cut his eyes to me before finishing, "_deal._"

"Ah yes _that_ deal." James said. "That's fine. Speaker phone will be fine. Just need to find out where he stands with his new position."

"Will do sir. Is there anything else I can do for you right now?"

"Make note that we're closing at 2 this morning. Let the dancers know that there will be no performances after 1:30." He said then Felix left.

"Closing early? On a Saturday?" I asked as I distractedly sipped the vodka.

"I have business that needs to be taken care of and it has to be done tonight."

"Oh." I said.

"I need a few more things from you though." He said with a certain look in his eyes that caused me to choke on the sip I had just taken. "I need you to get close to those three men. I need you to get me as much detail as you can on them. I need names, first and last. I need their cell phone numbers. I need to know what they do on a day to day basis. I need everything. Hell if you can swing it, I need to know what their morning breathe smells like."

My eyes windened as understanding dawned on me.

"You want me to sleep with all 3 of them!" I yelled.

"Of course not…just one. You can bring in Alice and Rose to take the others."

"We're not fucking prostitutes James!" I said as I slammed the glass down on the table.

"No you're definitely not. But I do own you now and you will do what I want or you will be punished. And don't worry baby, you'll all three be paid very handsomely for this."

I narrowed my eyes at him. After the initial shock faded, I realized it was Edward, Jasper, and Emmett we were talking about. Not strangers. Edward. Get close to Edward. Be close to Edward through the undercover work.

It was our way to get information to them.

"Fine." I growled. "We're talking five figures each for this."

"We'll discuss payment based on the information you get me." He stated calmly.

"When do you want this little plan to be put in place?"

"Next time they're here."

"But what if they don't come back?" I asked. James stood up from the couch and laughed.

"Oh Isabella…trust me they'll be back." He said then waved me off again.

Felix was no longer outside the door so I assumed he was backstage talking to the dancers and calling Victoria like he was directed.

I stumbled down the stairs having drank the entire glass of vodka he poured me, but somehow managed to get over the bar without falling completely on my ass.

It wasn't without effort though.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Rose asked.

"James…damn it…he poured me a glass and I absentmindedly drank it while he regaled me with our new jobs." I said. "Can I have a water?"

"Only if you tell me what the hell you're talking about." She said.

"Oh I will but not here." I said then waved Alice over to the bar. She made her way through the tables quickly so then I called the other bartenders over and Jessica.

"What's this little group meeting about?" Alec asked.

"Closing shop up early tonight 2:00 per James. Last call in 45 minutes." I explained.

"Did he tell you why?" Jessica asked with a little bit of a whine in her voice.

"Yes because he's always so forthcoming about why he does the things he does." I said with sarcasm dripping from my tone. "Of course he didn't tell me! And besides are you going to question it?"

She shook her head rapidly.

"She does have brains." Alice mumbled.

"Okay so that's all." I said so everyone would go back to their job.

"What the heck is going on Bella?" Alice asked.

"I can't tell you…_right now_."

"Got'cha!" She said as Marcus reappeared next to Rose. "So I think it's about time you get back to your tables. Those three were definitely upset that you weren't the one getting their drinks this past two times. Especially Copper Top." She giggled.

"They seem good right now. No need to go over there just yet." I said then walked away ignoring the looks of confusion.

I didn't know how to face them! Knowing them or not…James just told me to sleep with one of them to get the information he wanted. They knew something was up since I'd been upstairs for a while and I'm sure they'll want to know what the hell is going on when I tell them that we're closing early.

I have absolutely no idea how to handle it.

I waited until right at last call before I approached them again.

Edward looked almost mad. And then he looked absolutely furious and worried when I told him we were closing an hour early.

And then he looked like he was pain.

Jasper was the one who spoke up, which didn't surprise me too much. And just like James had predicted they wanted to know when I would be working again. I told them our hours then walked away to get their bills.

After dropping the bills off, I headed back over to Rose and Alice who had both started cleaning things up as people left.

Not a few minutes later Alice elbowed me right as Edward appeared in my line of sight.

They each handed me their bills separately and each with $50.

"No change." Emmett said.

I started to protest the $60 tip since I really hadn't done anything but Edward interrupted me.

"Service was excellent. Be seeing ya." He said then they all turned and walked away.

"Here." I said throwing Rose and Alice each a bill to cash out the tip.

"Damn Bella…$60 tip from one table? What'd you do to get that kind of money?" Jessica's nasally voice crept into my ears.

"I gave each of them blowjobs in the bathroom." I said straight faced then walked away from her leaving a laughing Rose and Alice and a dumbfounded Jessica.

I finished wrapping up all of the tables that were in my section and cleaning them while everyone else did the same thing.

Just before 3 o'clock Rose, Alice, and I left and headed towards our apartment.

It wasn't until we were safely locked away behind our doorway that I explained everything that had happened that night and what James wanted us to do.

"Oh boy they're going to be so pissed off." Alice laughed.

"You're laughing?!" I all but yelled.

"Well yeah…it's not like we actually have to do it…unless we just want to." Rose winked. "The boys will give us anything we need all we have to do is ask for it, right?"

"I guess but…still…" I said. "If we _didn't _know them we'd have to it or…who knows what he'd do! The fact that he _thinks_ that's who we really are means we've done something wrong somewhere."

"Like get mixed up in an undercover operation spying on a very dangerous drug dealer who trades in high-end hookers on the side?" Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This sucks. Seriously, a month ago we were happily ignorant in New York City…if you all had just listened to me when I told you that group was bad news…but noooooo…." I said rolling my eyes.

"Don't blame this shit on us!" Rose yelled.

"Oh I'm gonna blame it on you because if we had just gone to the police in New York like I wanted to then we wouldn't have ended up working undercover in LA pretending to be waitresses pretending to be WHORES!"

"If we'd gone to the cops in NYC we'd be dead! Edward even said that they have a leak!" Rose yelled back.

"Fuck! His meeting tonight is with Victoria and the leak!" I said putting the pieces together.

"What?" Rose and Alice both asked with voices back to normal.

"He told Felix to get Victoria and then he said something that didn't make sense until just now…he said he wanted her _friend_ to join this time but then Felix reminded him that he was still in New York working a _deal._ And needing to know where he stands with his new position. It's his leak! His leak's going to be part of their meeting tonight via phone but still…shit! I hate that we can't get in contact with the boys."

"Yeah they probably would like to know that bit of information. The leak is not a friend of James's but a friend of Victoria's…" Alice mused.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Say what another update already? That's right! Quick update this time. Not sure if you should begin to expect updates like this very often, but I'm now REALLY bored at work so I'm filling my time until the end of the month with this! Not exactly a good use of company resources but...I really hate being bored. haha.**

**So James wants the girls to be whores basically. Good thing they know their targets. ;-)**

**Edward's up next!**

**Enjoy**

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

"You know we're being tailed right?" Emmett asked Jasper as we pulled away from the bar.

"Sure do. I don't know who it is but they're lousy at this whole following someone thing." He laughed.

"Figured you did but wanted to make sure just in case you got a bug up your ass to go back to the office instead of to the hotel."

If James already had someone tailing us that meant it was going to be damn difficult to actually get to the office and it was something we needed to do on Monday.

I also needed to make contact with Seth and Aro in order to stay on top of the activities in New York.

Plus I wanted to stay busy to hopefully keep my mind from thinking the worst about what was going on with Bella and the girls while we weren't able to be in contact with them.

We desperately needed to figure out a way to get in touch with the girls. For no other reason that it was crucial for my sanity. I had to know why the club closed early. Were they safe? Did something happen that put them in danger? Were we being followed because our cover had already somehow been blown?

"Awfully quiet up there Cullen." Emmett said nudging my left shoulder as he leaned forward from his seat in the back.

"He's one brooding son of a bitch right now and off in his own world." Jasper said as we turned into the valet parking drop off at the hotel.

"We have to find a way to get in touch with them." I mumbled as I pulled at my hair while getting out of the car and then immediately started pacing outside the hotel.

"Get your emo ass inside this hotel so we don't draw any more unwanted attention." Jasper said then shoved me towards the door. "Jesus Cullen…gonna blow our cover before it even starts. That car followed us all the way here and your little pacing out front made it look like you were an insane person and not a member of the…" He said but trailed off as an older couple joined us waiting for the elevator.

"Sorry." I sighed.

"But you're right." Emmett said and Jasper agreed. "Something's up and we need to make sure they're okay."

The ride to the penthouse suite was quiet. The older couple left us on the 8th floor, but even after that the three of us were silent and it wasn't comfortable.

"We can't call them." Jasper said after he shut the room door behind us.

"Why not?" Emmett asked urgently.

"What if they're with _him_?" Jasper said as he flopped down on the couch in the living room.

_Shit…_he was right of course. We couldn't call them. They were the only ones who knew if it was safe for them to carry on a conversation with one of us.

The sudden urge to throw something across the room was too much for me and I'm pretty sure the only thing that stopped me was the sound of Jasper's regular cell phone ringing.

He jumped across the room and grabbed it off the table quickly glancing at the caller ID and then with wide eyes answered it.

"Alice?" He said with relief and nervousness all in one simple word. He smiled reassuringly at Emmett and I who hadn't made a single movement since the phone rang. "Do you mind if I put you on speaker phone?"

She must have said that she didn't mind because then he was setting the phone down and Alice's voice was floating through the air.

'_Hi boys!'_ She said very cheerfully.

"Hello Alice." Emmett and I both responded but still without smiles.

'_Holy shit…I can feel the tension through the phone. We're all okay. Relax. We're home and everything's fine.'_

"Then may we ask why are you calling?" Jasper asked.

We heard her sigh and then some shuffling before Bella's voice came through the phone.

'_Because we have some information that needed to passed along and before Tuesday.'_

At the sound of her voice, I released a breath I didn't even know I was holding and my entire body relaxed.

"Well do share then Bells." Emmett said after looking at me pointedly and shaking his head.

'_Is Edward there?'_ She asked quietly and both sets of eyes that had been looking at the phone were now looking at me.

"Yes." I responded.

'_Good because this has everything to do with New York.'_ She was so nervous and unsure.

"What's going on Bella?" I asked.

'_Well…the club closed early tonight because James called a meeting with Victoria…I'm assuming to discuss you three because it wasn't until I told him about you that he wanted this meeting.'_

"Okay." We all three said letting her know that we were keeping up.

'_He also wanted her to have her friend join them. Felix – that's the big bodyguard always around James…well Felix reminded James that Victoria's friend was still in New York working what they referred to as 'the deal'. And then James said he really only wanted to know where this friend stood with his new position.'_

New position? Deal in New York? I was so confused and Jasper and Emmett had the same confused expressions on their faces as I did.

What did this have to do with us? Who was Victoria's friend? I stood trying to work through the puzzle in my head when a very frustrated sigh came through the phone.

'_Pretty sure Victoria's friend is your leak.'_ Bella said. _'You need to do a detailed search on Victoria. She's your connection to the DEA.'_

"Are you sure?" Emmett asked.

'_Well not 100% sure but it's a start. Victoria has a bigger part in this whole thing than just James's plaything. And that I _am_ sure on.'_

"We'll look into her on Monday when we returned to the office." Jasper said.

"Thanks for letting us know. Were you guys followed from the club tonight?" I asked.

'_Ummm…no but we weren't really paying attention…well I wasn't.'_ Bella responded sounding slightly worried. _'Hey Rose…notice anyone following us home tonight?'_ She turned from the phone.

'_Nope and I look every night just like Emmett told me to.'_ She said in the background. Emmett's smile widened with what appeared to be pride and maybe a little cockiness.

'_Were you guys?'_ Bella asked.

"Yes." All three of us answered.

'_Okay…we'll pay closer attention to that. I need to go now and get to sleep. I'm dead on my feet. Any of you want to talk to Alice or Rose?'_

"I want to but we need to close the open phone line." Jasper sighed unhappily. "Tell Ali goodnight for me though."

"Yeah and tell Rosie for me." Emmett all but shouted excitedly causing Bella to giggle.

'_Okay boys I will pass the messages along.' _She said then paused for a second before sucking in a deep breath and continuing, _'good night Edward.'_

"Good night Bella. We'll see you Tuesday." I said then Jasper ended the call from our end.

Tuesday night was an eternity away.

"Get the feeling there was something else Bella wanted to say?" Jasper asked after he hung up.

"Yes." I said because something in her voice told me there was more that happened tonight that involved the case and/or us but she didn't or couldn't tell us.

But they called to tell us they were okay and that was all I really cared about right then and there.

My next concern was digging further into Victoria's past.

It was a job that we jumped headfirst into on Monday when we snuck into the back of the DEA office at 10 in the morning.

We didn't find much under 'Victoria Denali' her married name, but while digging we discovered they weren't legally married. She had just changed her name legally and started calling herself his wife.

We searched everything we had access to but nothing we did, not even Jasper, was getting us anything before she became Victoria Denali.

Someone had gone to great lengths to hide her true identity.

"It almost feels like a government cover up." Jasper mused while again trying to access files.

"It does have that feeling." I agreed. "But we need to find out who she is. Somewhere someone has to know who the hell the redhead is." I finished frustrated with the whole situation right has my cell phone started ringing.

Seeing that it was Seth I excused myself from Jasper and Emmett to take the call so they could continue to work.

"What's up Seth?"

He started talking before I even got the whole sentence out. He started rambling on about how word on the street was that a huge deal was going to be going down soon. Somewhere on the west coast. He didn't know details but was going to keep his ear to the pavement to try and get something more for me.

He thought he was close to finding out who the leak was but they were apparently really good covering their tracks. Due to some more information that had gotten out to Denali's thugs in NYC though it was pointing more towards someone higher up than someone like Seth or I.

The possibility of it being multiple people also entered my mind. Someone in LA had to be in on it as well since Jasper and Emmett lost their informants too.

The only thing that he said that made my stomach clench and concern really take hold of me was when he said something about finding out Aro had a step-daughter.

"A what?"

'_Yeah man…from a previous marriage. She's a little older than us. Doesn't live here. Married to a cop though. I overheard him talking to her on the phone. The way it sounds they don't see each other much but Aro mentioned his vacation in a couple of weeks and catching up then. He seemed really excited about it. I can't believe he never told you about her. I thought for sure you would have known. He thought of you as his own son.' _

"Wow I never knew he had even previously been married. Know what his ex-wife's name is or the daughter's for that matter?"

'_Nope not a clue.'_ Seth laughed.

"Cool. Look I gotta go right now, but I'll be checking in again later. We're working an angle right now that might keep me pretty busy and hard to reach. And hey Seth…keep your eyes open and watch your back. I'm serious about everything. Something big is gonna happen and I don't wanna get a phone call telling me you're dead."

'_Works both ways asshole.'_ He grumbled before hanging up the phone.

The boys and I put in a few more hours at the office before heading back to the hotel. From the safety of the hotel room, I called Aro and being a vague as I could without raising suspicions I gave him an update.

It was more complicated that I thought it would be. He seemed to know exactly what questions to ask to make me stumble over my words.

If he noticed he didn't call me out on it. And it certainly didn't calm my ever growing uneasiness about how high up the leak went.

And the more I contemplated the consequences of someone in a position like Director being a leak, the more paranoid I got about the girls being in undercover.

The hotel lounge was where we spent our Monday evening.

"I hate this." Jasper mumbled as he slowly sloshed his bourbon around in the glass.

"The bourbon?" Emmett asked surprised.

"No…the fact that…well I…oh fuck it…I miss Ali." He sighed. "I don't even really _know_ the pixie and I fucking miss her." He groaned in frustration and then continued when neither Emmett nor I said anything. "I dream about that damn kiss…that one kiss! I'm turning into a chick. I swear. This is ridiculous. Do you know how difficult it's going to be to not grab her up tomorrow night and just kiss the living shit out of her? She haunts me. Everything I do, she's right there in my mind. She's in every dream." He finished by taking the last of his drink.

"I know." I finally said breaking the awkward silence that had fallen on our table after Jasper's tirade. "I feel so…I don't even know what the word is…chicks are so much better at this feeling shit. I just don't feel right without Bella near."

That was as good as my description was going to get to explain what I felt like. I just didn't feel right. Nothing felt right. To tell you the truth from the moment I laid eyes on her picture in New York, my world had been flipped upside down and the only time it felt like it was sort of balanced again was when I was close to her.

"What are these chicks doing to us?" Emmett laughed. "Never been one to do relationships and what not as you know, but Rosie…Rosie's worked her way into my heart and damn if I didn't try to keep her away. I'm pretty sure if we all make it out of this alive, I'm gonna marry that one."

I sprayed my drink, soaking the table in the process.

"Thought that wasn't your thing?" Jasper chuckled as he reached to clean up the liquid that had ended up on his side of the table.

"It's not but…" He trailed off with a sigh and then his eyes glazed over as he transitioned into dreamland.

"Damn…here I thought I had it bad." Jasper said to me.

"Think he grew a pussy." I laughed.

"Fuck you." Emmett said but with a big ass grin plastered on his face.

Instead of just a day, it felt like another week until we were headed off to the club again.

This time though we got there a little earlier than we previously had.

We weren't met at the door that time but we sat at the same table. We hadn't seen Bella or Alice but that didn't stop our drinks from appearing before we ordered anything.

"Well hello again." Bella said as she set three drinks in front of us. "First round's on us tonight boys." She added with a wink and then just as quickly as she appeared she was gone again.

The difference between and Saturday night at the club and a Tuesday night was drastic.

The whole atmosphere was different. We also noticed more patrons ordered from the bar than the wait staff on Tuesday. And then when James came in he went to back instead of VIP.

Only to return a few short moments later, stop by the bar to talk briefly with the guys, before turning his attention to Bella.

They exchanged what appeared to be silent communication before he looked pointedly at Rose and Alice then turned around and walked right back out of the bar.

Never once making eye contact with our table.

"That's interesting." I said as I sipped my drink.

The others nodded slightly in agreement but said nothing and continued to focus on the half-assed dancing on the stage in front of us.

After a few routines there was an "intermission" between shows and it apparently was break time for Bella, Alice, and Rose.

"Hi fellas." Alice said as the three of the approached our table.

"Well good evening ladies." Emmett said.

"May we join you for a few quick seconds?" Rose asked.

"Of course pull up…" I started to say but was cut off when all three of them plopped down on our laps.

"Ladies?" Jasper questioned. Alice's shrug was the only reply we were apparently getting from them on the subject.

"Business is slow tonight so James wants to close down early. Probably last call at 12:30 closing at 1:00. Were you boys planning on staying all night or did you have plans after you left here?" Bella asked.

"No plans. I think we were just going to head back to our hotel." I said while trying really hard to not focus on the fact that her ass, which was barely covered, was near inches from a very sensitive part of my anatomy.

"What about you girls?" Emmett asked.

"Not sure. James mentioned needing us to do something later. Not sure though." Alice mused.

Emmett, Jasper, and I all narrowed our eyes but knew we couldn't express our discomfort with that statement. Sure we wanted details on them but we didn't really like the idea of the girls going to a gathering at one of their private homes – where anything could be or could happen.

"Back to work Hale!" One of the guys behind the bar shouted across the room.

Rose rolled her eyes before slowly standing from Emmett's laugh. "Marcus beckons."

"We gotta get back to our..._four_ tables." Bella smirked before also standing up. Alice followed and then they were gone too.

We got a few more rounds of drinks ordered before the girls called last call on us.

"See you girls tomorrow night." Emmett said.

"See ya later!" Alice said with a little wave.

Something was up and we all knew it but we had no idea what it could possibly be. And of course we had no way of finding out without looking suspicious so we reluctantly left the club and the girls for another time.

We were slightly surprised when we realized we were followed yet again from the club to the hotel because of the lack of attention James sent our way in the bar that evening. But apparently he was still curious.

That was good for our objective.

And again as we pulled into the valet parking, the car drove past us making a right turn at the next corner.

It was stupid of us to watch our phones like hawks but after hearing from the girls Saturday after leaving them, we were all hoping they'd do the same thing again.

It was because we were all staring so intently at the phones, that when there was a knock on our hotel room, we all jumped.

And then we all panicked.

The knock was not feminine that was for damn sure.

"Emmett." Jasper nodded towards the door. "Game time."

From where Jasper and I were sitting we couldn't see the door and or Emmett. We also couldn't hear clearly what was going on at the door. All we heard was mumbling and nothing recognizable.

"Bullshit." We heard Emmett all but shout as he reappeared.

Following him was not who we were expecting though. Instead of a big bodyguard and James, there were three women.

Not just any three women though; Bella, Rose, and Alice.

They all looked amazing but Bella was who I couldn't take my eyes off of. She was wearing a pair of skin tight white pants with a navy blue silk shirt that was lower in the front than should have been allowed showing me just about everything she had to offer. Her shoes were the same color blue as her top and very, very spiked.

She could have done some serious harm with those heels.

Her hair was hanging down her back and was just begging me to run my fingers through it.

But it was the sparkle in her eyes and her wide smile I couldn't pull my gaze from.

"Wow." I heard myself say and then watched as she blushed.

"Yeah you're struck dumb now but wait until they tell you why they're here." Emmett grumbled.

"Why are you here?" Jasper quickly asked as he pulled his eyes from Alice for the first time since they'd walked around the corner.

"We're gifts." Bella said shyly.

"Gifts?" I growled. "Please tell me this is not what I think it is."

"James sent us as welcome gifts. We're here to make you happy." Alice said.

"And get information." Rose added with a smirk.

I had never been so mad in my life. Furious wasn't even a good enough adjective for my feelings. I wanted to rip his fucking head off.

I had always thought people were exaggerating when they said 'they saw red', but let me tell you…they're not. Everything was blurry and I could feel my muscles tensing up and my body heat rising.

"We might want to explain a little more before their heads pop off." Alice giggled.

"What's there to explain?!" Jasper exploded right along with me.

"We're not prostitutes for anyone but you three. It's not like he's asked us to _service_ other men…" Alice started but it was clear her words were just making things worse. _Service other men?!_ I mean honestly how did they not expect us to go postal.

"What Alice is trying to say is that…" Rose started to say but Bella interrupted her.

"There is no good way to put this and you know it. No spin we put on this makes it any better. James told me that we are to get all personal information out of you that we can get and that included how you brushed your teeth in the morning. So yes, he's asked us to sleep with you in hopes we'll be able to do recon work under the ruse of hoping to secure business."

"It's fucked up." Emmett said.

"What if it wasn't us that had walked into that club as potential business partners? What if it were true mob guys? You'd guys would be forced to do it or face…" I said.

"We wouldn't have been in the bar if hadn't been for you guys so that's a moot point." Rose argued.

"Very true!" Alice chirped as she started exploring the suite.

"Plus…if we're here on assignment from James then it makes it that much easier for us to communicate about things we've found. You had been concerned how we would meet up and exchange information…well now you don't have to." Bella smiled.

"It's the perfect solution really." Rose said.

"Except that you're pretending to be prostitutes!" Emmett exclaimed.

"But we're not actually doing it." Bella sighed as she slowly and somehow sinfully sat down on the couch.

"I don't like it either Jazz but they're right – at least now we have a way to be in contact with them." I said unable to peel my eyes from Bella.

"Yep! See you get it. We're yours to do with as you please. His instructions were for us to be on call for anything you fellas might need or want. You call us, we show. Anytime. Part of the gift." Alice said reappearing in the living room.

"Just make sure to give us some good information. We don't want to go back empty handed." Rose said as she sat down as well.

"Well not tonight though." Alice added with narrowed eyes. "If we get information on the first time it will look funny. No tonight we need to just get you to trust us." She winked.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Emmett asked.

"Oh we're sleeping here with you boys." Bella said with a grin.


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: Bella's view of first arriving at the boys' hotel suite and then the rest of the evening...mature content ahead my friends. ;-) **

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

To say the three of us were nervous was a gross understatement. Trying to delay the inevitable, we took our sweet time changing out of our work uniforms and into what we thought were suitable outfits for hired _fun_. The bottle of tequila we had taken into the restroom with us wasn't doing its job of calming our nerves either. In fact it was only serving to get us tipsy, which had to stop since one of us needed to drive.

Alice with her hollow leg won that battle while Rose and I both giggled upon our exit of the then empty club.

Of course when we were met by Demetri in the lobby of the hotel, we all sort of morphed into nervous and _angry_, the tipsy feeling completely going away.

He ignored our protests and escorted us to their room anyways. When Emmett answered it wasn't at all surprising to find him in a defensive stance. He was so initially focused on Demetri that it wasn't until Rose cleared her throat that he saw the three of us behind him.

He narrowed his eyes at us before returning his focus back to Demetri.

"What the fuck is this and who are they?" Emmett said in a very authoritative tone.

"Just the delivery man…and these are the packages. One for each of our new VIPs at Noir. Gifts from Mr. Denali for you to use as you wish." Demetri responded just as cool and collected as he could be.

But I thought Emmett's head was going to explode.

"Thanks Demetri, you can leave now. I think we can handle it from here. We certainly don't need you around for what we have planned." Rose said while stepping around him and into the doorway with Emmett. "This one's mine ladies." She purred as she gripped Emmett's bicep.

"Right Miss Hale. Will you ladies need to be picked up…when you're finished here?"

"No. We drove our own vehicle and I don't think we're going to be leaving anytime soon. You should go on home." I said knowing damn well he'd probably stay somewhere close to keep an eye on the building and make sure we stayed at least long enough to make the boys happy.

"Yes Miss Swan." He nodded then turned and walked away.

"May we come in?" Alice asked shyly as we all turned back into being nervous. Emmett just nodded then let us in before practically slamming the door shut behind us.

"Bullshit!" He said through clenched teeth after he was sure the door was shut and Demetri wouldn't be able to hear.

And that's when shit hit the fan. The boys were fuming and I'm almost positive if it wouldn't have ruined their operation they would have tracked James down right then and there.

The protective growl that erupted from Edward when we explained the situation, albeit very poorly, was so damn sexy. I wanted nothing more than to devour him right then in the living room, the other four completely forgotten for the moment. It didn't help that I had already been close to that point from the way his eyes roamed my body after we first walked in.

What I did say then was clearly the result of the remnants from the tequila in my system and my suddenly kicked into high gear libido because I told the boys we were staying the night with them.

Luckily, I wasn't so much in haze that I couldn't come up with a reason as to why we were staying.

"At least for a few hours. Demetri met us in the lobby which means he's close by and probably will be until we leave. We can't stay for a few minutes and then just leave. If we stay a few hours then we might as well catch some shut eye while we're here."

"We were thinking basic info tonight…obviously it would be weird if we didn't get your names and exchange phone numbers, right?" Rose said.

"True." Everyone else said.

"I think that's probably it for the first night. The next time you guys come over, we can get more detailed." Emmett suggested.

"Whatever you guys think is best. You're the pros; we're just here because you needed us." I said then yawned. "Damn…you know for being a short night I sure as shit am tired."

"I think the buzz is wearing off." Alice's yawn followed mine while she attempted to speak.

"Agreed so where are we crashing?" I asked turning to look at Edward. When I turned to face him, he wasn't paying a damn bit of attention to anything other than my tits. Openly gawking really.

Emmett snickered while Jasper threw a pillow at his friend to bring him out of his trance.

"You perv!" He shouted as he threw it and it clocked Edward right in the face.

"Fucker." Edward grumbled as he threw the pillow back at Jasper.

"Hey! You know what I just realized?" Alice said suddenly. "This is the hotel that _Pretty Woman_ was set in and this is the penthouse and his name is Edward! It's kinda funny and yet totally creepy in a way."

"And he's even got himself a whore!" Emmett laughed but stopped when Rose smacked him across the back of his head. "Ow! Okay…_fake_ whore. Sorry." He said but that wasn't much better and Rose went to smack him again, but he anticipated that one and ducked away from her.

"I knew what you meant Em." I laughed as I stood up from the couch. "Seriously I'm tired. Where's the best place for us girls to crash?" I asked looking again directly at Edward.

"You can sleep in my room. I'll take a floor or a couch." Edward said as he stood up. Jasper and Emmett both nodded their agreement in Edward's statement.

"I'm not kicking you out of your bed." Alice said putting her hands on her hips and facing Jasper.

"Right." Rose and I both said.

"Well we're not letting you sleep on a floor." Jasper said glaring down at Alice.

"Fine. We'll share." She said with a smile then grabbed his hand and headed down the hall with a shocked looking Jasper in tow. "Which one is yours?" I heard her ask before they disappeared into a bedroom.

"Rosie?" Emmett asked with wiggling eyebrows.

"In your dreams asshole." She huffed but with a small smile playing on her lips. "Which way is the bed I'm commandeering for the evening?"

"Same hallway as Jazz's. Edward's got the other side by himself." Emmett said disappointed and almost with a pout.

"Oh for crying out loud. Keep you big paws to yourself and we can share. But I swear to God Emmett if you lay one hand on me, I'll cut your balls off." Rose growled.

Emmett grinned widely before literally skipping towards her.

"He played her well." Edward chuckled.

"Actually she played him well. She's had her eyes on him since the night you arrested us." I laughed. "So how is it that I was the first one to mention how tired I was but then end up the last one out here?"

"Good question." He chuckled. "Well as Em mentioned, my room's that way." He said as he placed a guiding hand on my lower back and led me down the hallway the opposite direction the other two went. "I'll just grab something more comfortable than this suit to change into and then I'll go out to one of the couches because I refuse to let you sleep on a floor."

"Okay." I said dumbly as his hand remained on my back keeping me from thinking about anything other than that fact. Once in his room, he left my side and grabbed a few things out of a suitcase then ducked into the bathroom.

I stood absolutely motionless staring at the bathroom door, imagining a half-naked Edward behind the closed door. He was only gone a minute but it was enough time for me to work myself into a frenzy.

When the door started to open, I turned my head quickly to avoid being caught like the idiot I apparently was. When he came into my view again, I noted that he had simply changed into loose fitting pajama pants and a black t-shirt. He seemed less than comfortable in it though and made me wonder what he typically wore to bed.

That thought needed to be stopped though before it got out of hand and made things worse for me.

"Ummm…Edward do you have something I could wear? These jeans aren't exactly the best sleeping material and well I'm not wearing…" I started to explain but then stopped short of finishing the thought when I heard Edward take sharp intake of air and it made me realize what I had been about to (and might as well have) admitted to him.

He clenched his jaw while nodding and then reached into his bag, searching for something.

"Shit…I don't have another pair of pants…" He mumbled quietly. I think it wasn't supposed to be heard by me, but it definitely was.

"Um…do you have an extra pair of workout shorts or anything?" I said quietly. He dug back into his bag and grabbed something before turning back around to me.

"Here," He whispered handing me a wadded up piece of clothing. "Good night Bella." He added then disappeared out of the room.

I looked down at what I was holding only to realize it wasn't workout shorts at all…it was a pair of boxers.

Wearing his underwear was not going to help the libido situation I was fighting at all, but I had no other choice, unless I slept naked and that was just a really bad idea all around.

I changed into the boxers then realized I needed a shirt as well so I grabbed the shirt he had been wearing under his suit jacket that evening and put it on. It was so long it looked like a damn dress on me and you couldn't even see the boxers.

But it smelled of Edward and so did the pillow I laid my head on. With Edward's smell surrounding me, I couldn't stop the sigh that escaped me.

And as comfortable as I was, the smell made me think of only Edward and kept me wide awake. I had been on the brink of falling asleep on the couch but as soon as I was in his clothes and curled up in his bed, I was wide awake and horny as hell.

"Fucking ridiculous." I mumbled to myself as I pulled the covers back off of me and planted my bare feet on the floor.

I had two options…take things into my own hands or go straight to the source of the need I was feeling.

It was a no brainer really and so once that decision was made, I quietly padded down the hallway out to the living room.

The whole place was eerily quiet but not so dark that I couldn't see that Edward was nowhere to be found in the living room on any of the couches or on a floor.

I felt my heart speed up slightly before I caught something out of the corner of my eye on the balcony.

He was magnificent. His back was to me but he was now shirtless and the pajama pants he had been wearing were now hung dangerously low. It revealed to me a tattoo across his upper back but at that distance I couldn't make out the detail. He was slightly bent over with his elbows resting on the railing and his hands in his hair.

I stood looking at him for another minute before I took a calming breath and headed out towards the balcony myself.

Edward must have been completely out of it because he made no sign of hearing me opening or closing the door.

I didn't want to scare him but I knew at the point no matter what I did, no matter how I made my presence known he was going to be caught completely unaware.

The closer I got to him the more I could make out the tattoo. It was a Celtic design with the words 'Never Forget' scripted into it. It was beautiful and yet haunting at the same time. I didn't need to ask him why he got it, I knew it was for his parents and my heart broke a little for the man standing only inches away from me.

I was close enough to him to touch him and he still hadn't noticed my arrival.

"Edward." I whispered as I reached my left hand out and gently touched his back. As expected he flinched a little bit but then turned his head in my direction.

The emotions in his eyes caused me to gasp but I didn't back away or remove my hand from his heated skin.

"Bella…" He said almost with relief as he pushed up off of the railing and turned fully towards me. "Is everything okay sweetheart?" He asked as he stepped closer to me and placed his right hand on my cheek.

"Yes." I practically moaned. As it was the word come out breathy and thick with need. I blushed as my body betrayed me and my nipples became hard and erect. I hoped he wouldn't notice but it was all in vain because what man wouldn't notice something like that.

"Fuck…you're in my shirt too?" He said as he took another step closer to me.

I nodded unable to form a thought.

"So damn sexy do you know that?" He said coming closer still. This time his step put his body directly in contact with mine. "You're breathtakingly beautiful Bella." He added as his other hand came up and started caressing my other cheek and then slowly down my neck to my collar bone then down my side and around my waist pulling me tight against him. "I'm going to kiss you now." He said and I was helpless to deny him. I just stood there in his perfect grasp, against his perfect body, and looked up into his eyes begging him to do it.

When he realized I wasn't going to stop him he leaned down and tentatively ghosted his lips across mine.

As soon as I felt his lips upon mine, a fire, a passion I didn't know existed in me ignited within me.

I pushed back against him causing the kiss to deepen and wrapped my hands up in his hair.

I wasn't disappointed in his response. He eagerly answered my forwardness and brought his tongue out and ran it across my bottom lip asking for permission.

Who was I to deny the gorgeous creature?

I eagerly granted him what he had silently asked for as I felt his hands slip around my sides. One hand found its way to my ass while the other traveled up the length of my back, stopping only once he reached my hair and was able to loosely grab hold of it.

The way he surrounded me, it made me feel protected; like his arms created a protective cage around me. He pulled me closer still, and against his obvious erection. The contact elicited a moan from both of us.

I only then broke the kiss in order to catch my breath and attempt to gather any remaining control I had.

When I pulled away from him, Edward sighed and placed his forehead against mine with his eyes tightly closed. I had been hoping for a goofy ass grin not a look of what could only been described as pain.

The only thing keeping me from panicking was the fact that he hadn't removed himself from me. We were still tightly cocooned together.

"What?" I whispered pulling my head away from his and placing my hands on either side of his face hoping to get him to open his eyes and relax. The only response I got though was his grip tightening on me. "Edward, please look at me." I begged.

"Bella…" He finally spoke, his voice thick with need made it almost unrecognizable. "Jesus…I'm a fucking mess." He said with a slight chuckle causing me to smile even though I had no idea what he meant.

"I'm not sure I understand." I said still smiling, although he still couldn't see it since he hadn't opened his eyes yet.

He nodded faintly before removing his left hand from my ass and brought it up and placed is against my right hand against his face.

"I don't know if I can explain." He said as he finally opened his eyes and looked at me. "I've wanted to do that since the day I pulled your fake ID in New York…and it was so far beyond what I imagined. Now that I've let it happen part of me wishes I hadn't because I don't think I can go a day without it. Hell, I already want more than just the kiss…and with the case…"

"I know me too." I interrupted before leaning up on my toes and kissing him again. This kiss though was slow and sensual and full of my promise to him.

He looked at me with an unspoken question and I answered by taking his left hand into my right one and walking back into the penthouse, through the living room, and to the bedroom shutting the door behind us.

I released his hand and circled around him so my back was to the bed and I was facing him. I never broke my eye contact with him as I reached under his shirt that I was wearing and easily slid his boxers down allowing them to pool at feet.

"Bella?" He asked his voice raspy and his pupils so dilated his eyes looked black in the dim light of the room.

"Edward," I started speaking as I also started unbuttoning the shirt I was wearing, "I don't want to think about tomorrow. I don't want to think about the circumstances surrounding us. I only want to think about us, right now here in this room." I finished speaking as the last button slipped through its hole and the shirt fell completely open and off my shoulders to the floor where it joined the long forgotten boxers.

"Fucking hell you're gorgeous." He said as he raked in my naked form standing only a few feet from him.

Before I realized what he had done, he was standing only inches in front of me, kissing me passionately with his hands on my bare hips while guiding me the rest of the way to the bed.

When the backs of my knees hit the side of the bed, he slid his hands around to my ass and picked me up off the floor separating our lips but putting my breasts directly in his sights which he took full advantage of.

I moaned his name as his tongue swirled around my right nipple then he switched to my left.

"Baby…I can't fuck you tonight but I'm damn sure gonna make you scream my name." He said between kisses and sucking.

"But I want…"

"I know me too, but I don't have protection on me and I'm sure you don't carry a condom with you." He explained as he finally started lowering me to the bed moving his lips back up to my mine and momentarily off my breasts.

At his revelation, my eyes widen in surprise that I hadn't considered that before then.

"Unless you're on the pill." Edward added as he continued exploring every inch of my body.

"We weren't using our real names so going to a doctor has been out of the question for the past 3 years and it's not like I really had a reason to even worry about it."

The last part of my revelation hung in the air as Edward jerked his head up and stared deep into my eyes; a wide range of emotions playing in eyes.

I was able to identify confusion, horror, happiness, and nervousness.

Before he could ask the question forming on his lips, I found my voice again.

"I'm not a virgin." I smiled.

"Oh thank God…no…well I was torn honestly." He laughed lightly.

"I could tell. Look this is an awfully intense conversation to be having right now what with me completely naked underneath you and all." I said with a wink. "Let's say we forget it even came up and let's go back to you making damn sure I scream your name."

"I like that idea." He said as he ducked his head back down and attached his mouth to my bare skin.

As he worked his way from my collar bone down my torso and to my stomach, my hands found their way once again into his hair.

His hands slid down my sides as he continued to make his way further south and then without warning I felt one of his extremely long fingers side into me.

"Jesus Bella you're soaking wet…and so fucking tight." He said lifting his eyes to me as he slid the finger he had just pushed into me out again and up to his mouth. As he tasted me, he groaned in satisfaction and gave me lopsided grin.

"Fuck…Edward…" I whimpered as I tried to bring my thighs together hoping to create some sort of friction, but he instantly stopped me and placed both of his hands on my knees and separated them.

With a final smirk he dropped his head again and brought himself down within inches of where I needed him. He was so close I could feel his hot breath hitting my wetness.

"Pleeee…" I started to beg but was stopped when I felt his finger slide past my folds and start to slowly pump in and out. Not long after he started that his finger was replaced by his tongue.

I was putty in his hands within seconds. My first orgasm was beyond intense but when he roughly shoved two fingers into me and curved them upwards, my second orgasm put the first to shame.

As he promised, I definitely screamed his name. I also said fuck quite a few times.

Apparently sensing that I was close to my limits for the night, he kissed my clit one final time before slowly working his way back up my body until he was face to face with me again.

"You're very responsive." He said as he leaned down for a kiss, which I happily allowed. As we kissed I wrapped my legs around his and wound my arms around his to allow for an easier transition.

"Let's see if you're as responsive, shall we." I said with a smirk before I turned us over and put me on top of him for the first time of the evening. I was sitting just above his very noticeable erection and I realized with the amount of tenting happening in his pants that he wasn't wearing any underwear.

"No underwear for you either huh?" I chuckled as I gently moved down a little, careful not to hurt him. In his state I knew it wouldn't take much to either hurt him or make him explode.

"Sleep naked usually." He said as he tensed up.

"Relax." I said as I finally got low enough on his body that I could grip the top of his pants and start to pull them off of him.

"Fuck…" He groaned as the fabric of his pants slid gently against him before finally letting his penis spring free of its confines.

I didn't stop what I was doing to take a glimpse at what he was packing, even though I really wanted to. Instead, I finished the task at hand and discarded his pants before finally allowing myself to take in his naked form.

He truly was what I would consider perfect. Every muscle defined but not so much that he looked like a workout junkie. And the 'V' combined with his happy trail, leading the eye directly to my prize.

He wasn't porn star huge, which was fine with me, but he was definitely larger than the only other one I had ever seen.

While staring at it, I subconsciously licked my lips and moaned.

"Jesus you're driving me crazy just staring at me like I'm something to eat." He said.

"You are." I said. "Scoot up on the bed, please." I directed and he quickly accommodated my request.

Once he was far enough up the bed that I could slither back down his body without hanging off the end of the bed, I did and with a final look at his green eyes, I took him into my mouth until his tip hit the back of my throat.

"Shit…" He moaned.

I answered him with a moan of my own. The vibrations earning me yet another cuss word or two from him.

It didn't take him long to bring his right hand up and into my hair, gently guiding my speed.

And after that it didn't take long until I could tell he was getting close.

"Love…please stop…I'm going to…" He tried to warn me and get me to pull back but having seen porn multiple times and talking to my very explicit friends, I knew swallowing, while not all that tasty was better than having a mess to clean up.

Instead of stopping, I sped up my efforts.

"Fuck…baby…I'm going to…" He warned again but even if I had changed my mind, I would not have had enough time to pull away. I made sure every last drop was licked before leaning back on my heels and smiling at Edward.

He was leaning against the headboard with his head tilted towards the ceiling trying to calm his breathing while little beads of sweat dripped down his face.

"Did you really just…shit…" He said still breathing heavily as he started to come down from his high.

"Was that good?" I asked nervously.

"Good? Are you serious? I think I set a world record for fastest…wait…was that the first time you…" He asked as he realized the hidden message behind my nervous question.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Damn…you didn't have to…"

"I wanted to." I smiled. "I mean I've talked to Rose and Ali about technique before but I never…" I said and then realized we were back to the topic of my inexperience and I became incredibly insecure about the situation we found ourselves in.

Luckily he just smiled at me and motioned for me join him at the head of the bed. I crawled my way up to his waiting arms and snuggled into his side.

"I say we get some sleep." He suggested then moved us down to a more comfortable sleeping position, never once letting go of me.

"Ok." I yawned then placed a chaste kiss on his chest where my head was lying. "Are you sleeping here?" I asked fighting my suddenly heavy eyelids.

"If that's what you want."

"It's what I want. Good night Edward." I said then drifted off to the place between awake and asleep. Before I was completely out of it, I swore I heard a whisper from him, and yet somehow it sounded so far away that it couldn't have been him.

'_What have I done?'_


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: ****Hey everyone! SO SORRY for the delay on this chapter. I decided to take on another challenge which has taken more time than I planned. I'm selling Scentsy products on the side so I've been running non-stop. (and yes that was a shameless plug for my new business - if you're interested in buying products or just curious about what it is send me a message.). **

**I had planned on posting this Sunday night but then "Frankenstorm" hit the east coast of the US and I have family in NYC and out on Long Island so my brain was pretty much focused on only one thing (They're all fine though and still have power - some of the lucky ones I suppose). **

**But enough of my ultimately pointless A/N and on with the story. **

**Back to Eddie's POV now. :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

I watched Bella sleep for a while until my own exhaustion finally took over and won the battle waging inside my head.

There was a lot that needed to be thought through and things she and I needed to talk about but as much as I wanted to organize those thoughts in my head and plan the discussion we needed to have, I was dead tired. That combined with the warmth her perfect body provided as she wrapped herself up in me was more than my brain could handle.

It was only for five hours, but it felt like 10 and I woke rejuvenated and ready to take on the challenges I had created for us by not stopping what had happened between us. I didn't by any means regret it, but it still probably shouldn't have happened. We needed to stay focused on the case and all I could focus on was the naked woman lying next to me.

Before the previous night's events, I could only _imagine_ what it would be like to feel her lips on mine or to taste her, but after…I _knew_ for a fact what it was like and I wanted to spend all day every day with her.

And I definitely didn't want her anywhere near those assholes in the club and certainly not Denali.

I allowed what little remained of my guard to crumble and she walked right in fully grabbing a hold of my mind, body, and soul. I was hers whether she knew it or not and I damn well wanted her to be mine. Solely mine. I wanted no one else to touch her and this was going to cause issues when I saw her working in the club and Denali request her personally.

Getting too close to each other was the biggest problem we needed to contend with but it wasn't the only one. We had another issue that hadn't even entered my realm of possibilities before the evening.

She wasn't a virgin but she was damn close for a woman of almost 22 years old. She clearly didn't take things like intimacy lightly and yet within a few weeks of knowing me, she wanted more than _I_ was willing to give her. She was eager and I really, really enjoyed that but I can't shake the feeling that her eagerness was a cover-up for her nervousness. She slipped a couple times and revealed to me how nervous she truly was to be that close to a man. I needed to know exactly what her experience was. I needed to know why she hadn't had more relationships, especially in New York City.

Okay, I'll freely admit that most of the curiosity was me being selfish. I really just needed to know how many other men had had my Bella. I needed to know where I stood in comparison…if she cared for me more. And since she's not cavalier in her love life, I needed to know what made the others so damn special that she shared that with them.

And I needed to know what made her share herself with me.

"_Edward_…" Jasper's voice came from the other side of the locked bedroom door snapping me out of my own head.

I carefully untangled Bella's limbs from my own and slipped my pants back on before opening the door to wide-eyed Jasper and a very pissed looking Alice.

"What?" I asked in a whisper as I stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind me.

"Ali just got a wakeup call from James. Apparently he tried to call Bella first but when he didn't get an answer he…"

"Get to the point Whitlock." I growled; the mention of Denali only served to send my already precarious mood over the edge to full blown pissed off. Alice narrowed her eyes and shifted them to the door behind me but didn't say anything.

"He wants the girls to meet him for a late lunch to discuss some things. They need to get home and change before they meet him so we need Bella to get up. Rose is already working on getting up…Emmett's helping with that." He said with a smirk and chuckle.

"Fuck." I said as I ran my hands through my hair.

"Not helping the sex hair dude." Jasper said laughing then turned to walk away but Alice stayed; her eyes still narrowed and focused completely on my hair and darting between it and my neck.

"Nice hickey Cullen." She snorted. "She likes you a lot whether she's admitted it to anyone including herself. Be careful with her…she's not very familiar with the ways of men and…" She said with only concern lacing her voice. Her hostility earlier clearly being only directed towards her wakeup call from Denali and not that Bella and I shared a bed.

"Alice I know she's not and we didn't do anything she didn't want to do…in fact I'm the one that stopped us from…look ya know what I don't have to have this conversation with you. She's an adult, in fact older than either of you, and can make her own decisions. Besides, trust me, I'm beating myself up enough for everyone here. I don't regret it so don't give me that murderous look…it's just I wish we wouldn't have moved so fast with this. It's only going to complicate what's already more complicated than I can handle. With this case…and I wanted to rip Denali apart before I kissed her and now I really want to kill him every time I think about him getting anywhere near her…"

"Okay Edward." She interrupted me with a soft smile. "You know, you and Jasper sound a lot alike. I think we all let last night get out of hand but I'll tell you one thing, I'm not going to let some asshole named James Denali keep me from my happiness." She finished before turning back down the hall and out to the living room.

I shook my head and laughed lightly before turning back around and heading into the room. Bella was exactly where I had left her, still sound asleep and softly snoring.

Since she seemed to need as much sleep as possible, I decided to get dressed before waking her up. It was then while I was digging for a clean shirt, that I caught her purse out of the corner of my eye.

I was perfectly fine to ignore it, except a flashing red light wouldn't let me.

I knew without even picking it up that it was a voicemail indicator and that it was from Denali. I picked it up out of her purse and was entirely furious at the number of calls, texts, and voicemails she had from him.

In an hour's time he had called her ten times, left six voicemails, and sent her 12 text messages.

Not listening to the voicemails was easy, but not reading the texts was harder. And as I was about to give into my rage, jealousy, whatever, Bella woke up.

"What are you doing?" Bella's voice sounded in the quiet of the room; her confusion shining through her tone more than the anger I had immediately anticipated.

"Your phone was flashing and…ah hell there's no good way to put this I guess…" I laughed nervously. "James has been trying to get a hold of you for apparently the past hour, when he couldn't get you, he called Alice. I saw the red flashing light and was curious to see how many times he called."

"So you were snooping through my phone?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I wasn't going to read anything or listen to the voicemails, but then I saw how many times he had called and left messages and it pissed me off and I seriously was about to read his fucking text messages…" I started ranting and could feel my blood pressure rise as I continued but then she started laughing bringing me to an abrupt stop.

"Read 'em." She shrugged then without any type of uncertainties, got out of the bed, completely naked still, and got dressed with me staring like a pervert.

"So not going to read them, then?" She laughed as she walked up to me smiling. "Good morning." She added with a quick kiss on my cheek while taking the phone out of my hands.

"Morning." I croaked.

"HOLY SHIT!" She exclaimed suddenly causing me to flinch. "How many times did the fuck-nut think he needed to try and get a hold of me? You'd think after the first two calls and text messages with no response he'd get it." She said then clenched her jaw as she scrolled through the messages.

"Is that number his only phone?" I asked realizing that we had an opportunity to bug a cell phone used by Denali.

"No. He always has two phones on him. Why?"

"Would you care if I took that number he called you from and look into it? It's not the number we have on file for him or the one we're tracking so it's probably not under his name and…"

"Yeah it's cool." She said then handed the phone back to me so I could copy the number to my cell.

I didn't mean to, but I saw one of the texts messages.

_Why the fuck aren't u answering Isabella? Your lack of response doesn't bode well for your future with me. – J_

"Does he always treat you like he owns you?" I growled. Bella chuckled and shook her head at me before responding.

"Of course he does and it's because I act like he does. I do everything he asks me to do…I mean fuck Edward, I'm here and on the pretense as your whore for however long you're in town. He _told_ me to do that and I did it…without argument. So yeah he acts like he owns me but that's because he does. It's the whole undercover gig you had us sign up for, remember?"

"Being at his beck-and-call was not part of the deal…"

"Umm…yeah it was. You told us to get in with him. Find out anything we could…well getting _in_ with him requires him to trust us. For him to trust us we have to do what he tells us to do."

"Has he ever asked you to do something illegal?"

"Well you means besides sleeping with you for money?" She smirked, "no…pretty sure I would have told you if he had asked us to sell drugs or launder money since that's what we're trying to catch him doing." She said clearly irritated with me.

"Right." I sighed. "Sorry…it's just…after last night and…I didn't like the idea before and now I really don't like the idea of him being close to you…"

"I know and we have a lot to discuss about last night, but right now we're going to be late for a meeting based on the time it takes us to get ready and being late with James is not a good thing. We'll see each other tonight though." She smiled, kissed my cheek again and then headed out towards the living room where everyone was waiting.

"Well there's Sleeping Beauty." Rose mumbled as she grabbed her purse. "Come on we're gonna be late."

"What the hell crawled up your ass this morning?" Bella asked as I came around the corner.

"Emmett." Jasper snorted.

"Fuck you Whitlock." Rose snapped and walked towards the door without saying a damn thing to anyone else.

"Sooo…guess we're leaving." Alice laughed and rolled her eyes. "Bye guys. See ya later." She said then placed a quick kiss on Jasper's cheek, grabbed Bella's hand and started dragging her towards the door.

"Bye." Bella waved at us, throwing a quick wink in my direction, and then they were gone.

"Dude…what the hell?" I laughed looking at Emmett who was grinning from ear to ear like a fool.

"She loves me she just doesn't know it yet." He said still grinning.

Jasper sensing my still confused state decided to elaborate, "Well…apparently while Emmett was _waking _Rose up this morning he decided to get a little frisky with her…right as she was…um…"

"I stuck a finger in her ass as she started to….

"WHOA! I get it!" I laughed. "Fucking crude..."

"She liked it but is pissed off at me because I did it." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay done with details. Get it and I believe she has the right to be pissed off at you…and now I get the whole 'fuck you Whitlock' comment." I said still laughing at me goofy ass friends.

"She's more upset that I _told_ Jasper about it, but he heard her scream and start cussing me out." Emmett shrugged.

"Alice was actually the one concerned. I tried to stay away from it all, trust me because I didn't need that image in my head."

"Well I certainly didn't need it either." I said still laughing.

"So Edward…" Jasper trailed off and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I don't kiss and tell besides what are we a bunch of gossipy girls?"

They just grinned knowingly, or at least thinking they knew what had happened between Bella and me the night before. And they could think all they wanted to; I wasn't going to talk about what Bella and I did or didn't do in the bedroom – not to mention she and I still needed to discuss things and figure out exactly where we stood.

I wasn't going to talk about what we had going on when I didn't even really have my head wrapped around what we had. It just didn't make sense. I knew though that eventually I'd have to give them something because judging by Emmett's smirked he wasn't going to let it drop that easily.

Knowing that the girls were off to lunch with Denali made for a tense afternoon/early evening in the penthouse suite. It probably didn't help that we all avoided the subject like it was the damn plague.

It was stupid because by the time we headed towards the club we all had worked ourselves into shitty moods. I had spent the rest of the afternoon going through all the possible reasons for a lunch meeting with Denali – none of them were good. All my explanations ended with them not being at the club when we go there.

And judging by the sighs of relief that were exhaled by the two men beside me, they had been thinking the same things that I had.

"Well hello boys." Alice greeted the three of us when we walked into the club.

"Hello Miss Alice." Jasper responded then kissed her on the cheek.

"Mr. Denali requests your company in VIP." Bella said not quite as cheerfully as Alice greeted us. "Follow me." She said but then threw a wink in my direction settling my worry just a little bit.

"Did you ladies enjoy the rest of your afternoon?" I asked as we followed her up the steps to the VIP section. I expected a quick response but when she hesitated the worry crept back up again.

"Um…yeah it was nice." She said but without looking at any of us. I glanced towards Jasper who threw a confused look to both Emmett and I. Emmett just shrugged his shoulders but looked just as worried and confused as us.

"Here we are." Bella said as she pulled a curtain back and nodded to the giant man standing next to it before walking into the room. "James…" She said getting his attention.

"Oh yes! Wonderful. Thank you Isabella." Denali said as he turned from the balcony to face the four of us, but not before eyeing Bella from head to toe. "Well take their drink orders Isabella and leave us." He commanded of her.

"Of course James." She said then turned to us. "What would you guys like to drink. Your usual?"

"I think that would be just fine." Jasper said sensing that I was probably unable to say anything except profanities at that point in time.

"Great." She said then slid back by us and out of the VIP room, leaving the three of us and Denali alone; well except for the mountain of a man outside the curtain. I watched as she disappeared and didn't look back at the others in the room until Denali spoke.

"Please sit." He said motioned towards the couches and chairs. "She's beautiful isn't she?" He asked me as we sat down.

"I'm sorry what?" I said caught off guard by his direct question.

"Isabella? She's beautiful. I'm assuming by your admiration of her body just now that you're the one that was lucky enough to…_get to know her_ last night." He said with an evil smirk.

I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to kill him right then and there. Jasper apparently again sensed my mood.

"Oh yes speaking of that. We wanted to thank you for the generous _gifts._" Jasper said instead of me answering and therefore pulling Denali's eye off of me.

"Well I wanted to welcome you to Los Angeles and those three are my best employees. They're the greatest assets I have and I trust they treated you all very well."

"Oh yes. Very well." I said finally getting my composure back.

"Good good. They're yours until our business is completed." He said as he sipped his drink before Bella reappeared in the room.

"Three Jack and Cokes." She said setting the three glasses down in front of us.

"Thank you Bella." I mumbled before sipping it and then choking on the level of whiskey in the glass. "A bit stronger than normal." I said hinting at the fact that normally we don't have any alcohol in our glasses at all.

"Oh…well…yeah…Rose was busy so Alec made these. I'll tell him to not make them as strong next time if that's what you'd prefer Edward." She stumbled at the beginning but then regained her poise.

"Light weight Flannigan?" Denali chuckled looking at me. I saw Bella's forehead crease in confusion for just a second before she corrected it. "Just keep them coming Isabella." Denali said then dismissed her like a servant.

"Of course James. Would you like anything else right now?"

"No, but thank you for asking. You're doing an excellent job making up for your mistake earlier today, don't think I haven't noticed."

She nodded then walked away without looking over at the three of us.

"Gotta keep a short leash on women who look like Isabella and her friends. I'm sure you three understand that as I'm sure you have many women back in Chicago just waiting to jump when you tell them to."

"Hear that." Jasper agreed then held up his drink in a toast like fashion. "So shall we discuss business now so we can enjoy the rest of our evening?"

"Yes, just waiting on my consultant to join us and then we'll get right to it. She should be here any minute." He said then glanced at his watch. "In fact she's late." He growled right as the curtain flew back in a dramatic fashion.

The fiery red-head stood there in the trashiest outfit I'd ever seen a non-street walker wear. She might as well have been standing there naked.

"I'm not late James, your watch is wrong." She said then looked over towards the three of us. "Well hello there handsomes." She purred.

"Viki, sweetheart, these are the three men from Chicago that I spoke to you about. They're here to discuss a new business arrangement between us and their family."

"Actually James, our family doesn't know we're here." I spoke. This was a surprise to them both.

"Going behind your family's back?" Victoria mused. "Interesting. May we ask why you've decided to make such a bold move?"

"They're not as opportunistic as we are and we see a wonderful chance to make a large amount of money by teaming with James here. Money makes the world go round and if we have the money, we'll make the rules." Jasper said.

"Big guy doesn't say much, does he?" James noted.

"Emmett is our security. He speaks when it's required of him; usually to notify someone they're about to feel massive amounts of pain." I smirked.

"I prefer it that way." Emmett finally said with a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Where's that skank of a waitress? I'm thirsty." Victoria sneered looking over the balcony.

"Right here." Bella's annoyed voice filled the room. "Here's your regular." She added as she hastily set the glass down on the table.

"Thank you Isabella." James said with a wave of his hand, yet again dismissing her. "Alright let's get to it so we can have some fun."

"I like fun." Victoria said as she draped herself over James. "They checked out okay." She added as a side comment strictly for James' benefit.

"Good, good." He nodded absently. "What exactly are you thinking boys?"

"We're looking at starting off smaller – no sense in flooding the market with product right off the bat. Drive demand up first so we can charge higher prices." Jasper said. James didn't respond except with a nod of his head. "We're thinking maybe a few kilos to test the product first…"

"I can promise my product is top of the line; straight from south of the border." James interrupted.

"Yes we're sure too, but it's only prudent of us to double check what we've heard, yes?" I said as I sipped my drink. "What are you thinking price wise?"

"Twenty-five." Victoria said.

"You're out of your fucking mind, wench." Jasper sneered towards her, receiving a hiss in return. "To turn a profit at that amount we'd have to price it so high we'd never sell. Try 18."

"Now who's out of their fucking mind?" James retorted. "Good with 23?"

"Let's go boys, they're wasting our time." Jasper said and he downed his drink and stood up. Emmett immediately followed, but I hesitated.

"You're only dropping 2…where's the deal there? 21.5 and we've got a deal." I said.

Victoria winked at me then whispered into James's ear.

"We can do 21.5 with the promise that your return business is ours, but at 22 going forward."

Jasper smirked and then sat back down; Emmett followed him never taking his cold stare off of James.

"Deal. We'll purchase three kilos at $21,500 each while we're here in town and then we'll set up a stronger trade based off of the sales of those. Should go pretty fast." Jasper said.

"Should. We move an average of 2 kilos a day in NYC." Victoria boasted.

"That's promising for us then, isn't?" I said. "Looking forward to the money we'll be making together."

"We could do so much more than make money together, Edward." She said seductively right as Bella walked into the room.

Bella's eyed narrowed on Victoria and if looks could kill, it would have given us one less person to arrest when the whole operation was done.

Victoria of course noticed the look from Bella and just laughed.

"Fucking slut." Bella mumbled as she set our new round of drinks on the table.

"That's rich coming from the whore that slept with some guy last night for money." Victoria smarted-off with a smirk as she sipped her drink.

Bella's head snapped towards James who was smiling looking between both girls, obviously waiting on Bella to retort with something. Bella looked both horrified and yet somehow still unsurprised that Victoria knew of the arrangement James had secured. She also looked about ready to rip someone's head off.

"And _that's_ rich coming from the tramp who, while playing with one guy's dick under the table is hitting on the one across that same table, but only after fucking one of the bartenders backstage. You've had more men in 24 hours than I've had in a lifetime. Your pussy is probably like throwing a fun-sized candy bar down a hallway so ya know what, fuck you Victoria."

I snorted my drink through my nose, which let me tell you whiskey up the nose is just horrible. Emmett's deep laugh was unmistakable and Jasper was trying extremely hard to hold his in, but that only resulted in him snorting.

Before Victoria could collect herself, Bella had disappeared behind the curtain and back down to serve tables.

"Deal with her, James!" Victoria demanded. The undertone of her demand eluded to her not asking James to just innocently fire Bella, but to outright _deal with her_.

"You know I can't do that. We discussed this at lunch today, remember? We need her with us." James said seemingly unaffected by the fact that one of his employees just called his girlfriend/wife/whatever a massive slut.

"If you don't handle this _situation_ quickly then I will." She said through clenched teeth.

"What the fuck does that mean?" I demanded causing James to raise a questioning eyebrow in my direction.

"Grow attached to your gift Edward?" James laughed ignoring my original question.

My lack of response gave him his answer.

"Oh how sweet." Victoria scoffed while James continued laughing.

"Don't grow too attached…she stays here when you leave. She may be with you right now, but she's mine." He finally said with a serious face.

"His girl back home wouldn't like him coming home with that pretty little thing anyways." Jasper said then shot me a warning look out the corner of his eye.

Heeding his warning, I shut my mouth and sat back against the couch while I sipped my drink. I was still extremely pissed off at the whole situation and they hadn't answered my question about "handling the situation" which just irritated me further.

I wanted this case closed and I wanted it closed immediately. The sinister look in both James and Victoria's eyes was unsettling to say the least. They were planning something big and somehow the girls were now a part of it – well at least Bella was.

I could feel it but I couldn't prove it.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: I am the worst ever! I am so unbelievably sorry for the delay in getting this story updated. I could make excuses like writer's block or that I'm an accountant and this time of year is shit for me, but honestly instead of trying to write in my free time I opted to be a lazy ass. I caught up on my TV shows and movies and noted a few more ideas for future stories, but when I would go to write, I'd get a sentence or two written and be done with it. My brain just wanted nothing to do with it. **

**So I hope this chapter was worth the wait. My goal for the next chapter is to update before I leave on vacation to Vegas at the end of March. **

**~Tiff **

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><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

The day was complete and total shit. No other way to describe it. Everything started off more than okay, but then when Edward informed me that James wanted to meet us girls for lunch and that we were _already_ late for that meeting, I knew things would only go downhill from there.

I couldn't have more spot on with that assumption.

When we walked into the restaurant where James told us to meet him, we were exactly 30 minutes late. Apparently it was completely my fault because I ignored his phone calls and texts.

My next mistake was that I started arguing with him over it. I defended myself, called him a fucking asshole and douche bag, and told him that I was too focused on his prior assignment and put my phone on vibrate therefore not hearing it across the room while I was asleep. My argumentative tone only succeeded in pissing him off even further and us causing a scene in the middle of the restaurant.

Because I clearly had a momentary brain malfunction if I thought arguing with a known drug-dealer was a good idea.

From that point forward everything was bad. The reason for our last minute lunch date was for him inform us that we would be taking on a more involved role with his business.

The problem was that he didn't mean his club business.

"You three will be joining Laurent and I tomorrow afternoon to complete a business transaction with us." James said as calm as if he had just asked if we wanted something to drink.

"Is this something for the club?" Alice asked innocently but he knew that we knew he wasn't talking about _Noir_.

"I think that's a pointless question don't you Miss Alice?" Laurent smirked. "You three are pretty observant aren't you?"

"Well we certainly aren't as stupid as some might think." Rose smirked right back at the person we had considered a friend, but were beginning to wonder if us trusting him was a bad idea.

"Underestimating people's intelligence seems to be a common mistake these days." James replied cryptically and yet not so cryptically that my imagination didn't start running rampant with scenarios.

The three of us looked at each other but said nothing more. Laurent eventually spoke up breaking the awkward silence at the table.

"We'll need to be out of the city by 11 girls, so when I knock on your door at 10:30 you better be ready. No excuses. And make sure to look nice."

"Why do we have to look nice? Where are we going?" Rose asked.

Her question caused James to smirk again and his eyes almost shine with excitement.

"Airstrip in the middle of nowhere." He replied as he sipped his drink.

"Then why in the hell do we need to look nice?" I asked before my brain could tell my mouth to stay shut.

"Because dear Isabella, I'm dealing with some rough characters and I have it on good authority that if beautiful women are present they're less likely to try and kill me and take my money and product." He stated before standing up from the table.

"The bill's already paid and you can stay for as long as you'd like. See you tonight." Laurent said and then the two of them were gone.

The silence again stretched on.

It wasn't until our waiter walked back over and asked if he could get us anything else that we snapped out of it.

"No we're actually getting ready to leave. Thank you though." Alice said as she stood up to leave. "Let's go girls we need to get home and get ready for tonight."

She of course wasn't talking about just work. She was talking about seeing the boys and how we would handle everything.

The short ride back to the apartment felt about an hour longer than it really was. Of course it wasn't like the tension lifted even after we got back to the apartment…in fact I would venture to say it got worse.

"What the fuck are we gonna now?!" Rose yelled almost as soon as the door was closed.

"Why the fuck are you yelling at us!" Alice yelled back. "If I recall correctly your dumbass is the reason we're in this stupid fucking situation!"

"Again blaming this on me! You two didn't have to follow my lead!"

"Yeah we did! You didn't really leave us any choice…you told me he would find us and kill us if we stayed in New York! And a lot of fucking good it did, he's still gonna fucking kill us!"

"We don't fucking know that!" Rose screamed back.

"Really Rose? What the fuck else could it be? An airstrip in the middle of nowhere? Really." I said defeated as I collapsed defeated on the couch. I could understand their yelling but I didn't feel the need to partake in the action. It wasn't helping us at all and turning on each other just wasn't the way to go.

Unfortunately Alice didn't seem to see it that way.

"See even Bella fucking thinks we're dead if we go tomorrow. I'm not fucking going. I'm leaving town right the fuck now…or better yet I'm gonna call Jasper. If they know what James is planning they'll pull us out of the bar and protect us." She said as she reached for her phone.

"The hell you will!" Rose yelled as she ripped Alice's phone from her hand.

"God damn it Rose!" She shouted as she tried to grab her phone back.

"Just hear me out!" She yelled.

"Why the hell should we listen to you…_again_?!"

"Just sit down, shut the hell up, and listen to what I'm thinking."

"Sit down Ali." I sighed. "Let's at least hear what she has to say…we'll figure out what to do after we hear what she's thinking."

"Thanks…I think…although it sort of feels like you're just humoring me." Rose said with narrowed eyes.

"Just fucking talk already." I said getting slightly frustrated with them both.

"Okay so I think he's testing us. I think he's suspicious about us but I don't think he's been able to confirm it. This is his way of testing us. If we don't show then he'll know we ran and assume we went to the police. Track us down or use his inside connection to find us and kill us. If we go but tell the DEA and they show then he'll know we ratted him out and probably kill us and the DEA agents who show – so more than likely the boys. If we act like nothing is wrong, don't tell the boys, and go with everything we might just make it out of this thing alive and _then_ we can tell the boys that James is suspicious and we can pull out then."

I thought it actually sounded logical.

Alice was quick to dispute it.

"That only works if he's only suspicious and not already in the know. Fuck for all we know he knows we're working for the DEA and he knows that the boys are undercover too. We don't know what he's thinking at all! It's a trap Rosalie and you know it deep down! He's going to fucking kill us. KILL us Rosalie!"

"We don't know that!" Rosalie yelled and actually stomped her right foot.

"But we don't know that he's only suspicious either." I said. "Look, honestly any way we handle this we're screwed. Like seriously screwed. The worse thing we can do is fight among ourselves about how to handle this."

"Okay so you're the cop's daughter, what do you think we should do…_Isabella_? Hmm…?" Alice said getting that bitch brow up almost to her hairline.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude Alice. I understand the frustration, the nervousness, and being scared…trust me I definitely get it. But don't get pissy with me…with _us_ because you feel helpless." I said finally getting fed up with her and getting stern. "I don't think we made the right move in New York City and yes I believe you and I should have tried harder to convince Rose to stay in the city…" I said and noticed Rose's eyes narrow so much they almost looked shut. "BUT…I think this time she's right without a doubt."

"Thank you." Rose sighed and finally sat down as well.

"Don't thank me yet…if this backfires on us and we still end up dead…you better hope he kills me first." I said then cracked a smile.

"I think you're both fucking stupid." Alice said and stormed out of the living room.

"She'll get over it." Rose said with a sigh.

"My last breath will be 'I told you so'!" Alice yelled from her bedroom.

"Maybe." I said while rolling my eyes. "I really do think that anything we do is going to be the wrong move…going and not saying anything to the boys just seems like the only option that might provide us with a little bit of a safety."

"I know." Rose agreed. "You know that if the boys find out what we did they'll be so beyond furious with us for not putting them in the loop that if we survive Denali, they might kill us." She added with a humorless chuckle at the end.

"Yeah…I know." I said pursing my lips.

By the time we walked into the bar at seven o'clock, Alice still hadn't spoken to us and it had put Rose and I in sour moods. And what didn't help our moods any was the fact that when we got there, James was already there as well.

He luckily ignored the three of us for the first couple of hours, but about 9:30 when he wondered out of his office to head up to the VIP area, he pulled me off to the side to have a little chat about my behavior earlier in the day and how he didn't like the attitude I took with him. I wisely kept my mouth shut through the whole thing and just nodded my head agreeing with everything and not arguing back on any of it.

"Oh and Isabella, when Jasper, Edward, and Emmett arrive please send them up to VIP. Victoria will be joining us later as well and we'll be having a business meeting. I'm expecting you to be on top of things and get what we need quickly."

"Yes James." I said with a fake smile. He returned it before turning away and walking up to his private room. "Fucking asshole." I mumbled.

"Do you call me names behind my back as well?" Laurent said from directly behind me, scaring me and causing me to jump and almost spill the tray of empty glasses I was holding.

"I will now." I said with narrowed eyes.

"I forgot to mention at our meeting this afternoon that tomorrow when we pick you up, you're to leave your cell phones at the apartment." He said quickly before walking away and leaving me completely slack-jawed.

We were definitely in trouble, but knowing this didn't change how I viewed our plan. It would have affected Alice even more and maybe even cause Rose to change her mind, although I doubted it, so I decided to keep the little bit of information to myself until it was too late to do anything about it…like as they knocked on our front door.

The evening only succeeded in getting somehow worse from there. By the time the boys arrived Alice was faking being nice to Rose and I, which was worse than her ignoring us. And made Edward question my mood within seconds of them arriving so that forced me to fake it as well – which just pissed me off more.

I was finally pushed just too far and again my brain was unable to stop my mouth and actions when I walked into the VIP right as Victoria hit on Edward and then commented on where I spent the evening the night before, telling me James had told her of the arrangement he made with the boys and us. It pissed me off, although not really surprising me, and again before I could control my mouth, I had told her to fuck off along with some other things. It was completely senseless of me, but I just couldn't hold it back anymore.

As I went completely off on her, James's smirk and obvious enjoyment out of the "bitch fight" only made me madder and of course then only after stomping out of the VIP room did I remember that pissing Victoria off at that stage of the game probably wasn't the best idea and since she was fucking James that he'd probably do just about anything she wanted – including getting rid of me.

I tried to not think about the repercussions of my actions as I waited on tables but since she kept calling me to VIP it was hard to push it out of my mind.

"Fuck this night." I said to Rose as I slammed the tray of empty glasses down on the bar after returning from the VIP room for what felt like the umpteenth time and once again ignoring Edward's worried expressions.

"What happened this time?"

"She happened. Obviously you know we exchanged words earlier well now she's taken it upon herself to call me up there every 10 or so minutes and demand something from me. This time she wanted me to bring her an extra ice cube for her drink because it had gotten warm."

"There's a fucking mini-bar in the room why can't she get off her ugly ass and do it!" Rose shouted.

"My point exactly. The worst part is that James is letting her and I fear it's going to send Edward and the boys over the edge here before too long…which would be a big issue."

"Good thing the night's almost over…" She said but was interrupted by Laurent.

"You're wanted upstairs again." He said with a smirk before walking away.

"Fucking cunt." I mumbled under my breath causing Rose to laugh hysterically and Alice to shoot daggers our direction.

"Go before you get in trouble again." She said shoving me away from the bar.

As I made my way towards the stairs, I took inventory of the guests still in the bar. It was pushing 1:00 and we only had a few guests left so I was hoping this would be the last time I was summoned like a slave.

Whether it was my last time up to VIP for the night or not, my patience was gone so when I got there I just flung open the curtain and walked right into the room, placing a hand on my hip and tapped my toe.

I was done. Over it.

"What the fuck do you want now?" My tone and sudden appearance shocked everyone. While James actually looked amused, I wasn't the least bit surprised to find Victoria looked furious yet again. Emmett was hiding a smirk – obviously not very well. Jasper spit his drink out and Edward, my sweet gorgeous Edward, looked so concerned I felt sorry for him.

"I'm over your bullshit games tonight Victoria. Unless you want something from behind the bar get it your damn self." I added after the silence continued.

"How dare you take that tone with me!" She yelled as she stood up. Edward followed suit immediately and stood between her and I causing James to raise an eyebrow.

Victoria looked confused but knew she wouldn't be able to get through Edward to get to me so she turned to James for backup.

"Sit down Victoria. This battle is not worth it." He said instead as he too stood up and placed himself between Victoria and Edward. "Edward let's not ruin our business relationship before it even starts. Relax. Victoria won't do anything to Miss Isabella and besides I have a feeling Isabella could hold her own pretty damn good. Let's end tonight on good terms. Shall I walk you boys down?"

Edward clenched his jaw and I could see every muscle in his body was still coiled for action so I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"You boys should head back to the hotel. I think we're gonna be closing up here soon anyways." I said then gave a pointed look to James.

"So true Isabella. I was going to have Felix announce last call when you barged in here." He said with a smile. "Victoria, sweetheart, go wait for me in the office while I see our guests out." He added with a slap of her ass.

She smiled widely at him before turning and walking past me with a hiss and flip of her hair.

"Shall I have Demetri escort the ladies to your hotel tonight?" James asked the boys.

"We can drive ourselves." I sighed before walking away from all of them without another word and back down to Rose.

Apparently my expression showed something concerning because Alice put aside her anger long enough to come up to me at the bar.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she sat down earning shocked expressions from both Rose and I. "Oh shove it…I'm mad at you but I still love you and something's been wrong for the past hour or so."

"I've just had a bad night with Victoria…" I said then Rose snorted.

"Sorry, it's just that's an understatement for sure." She laughed.

"Yeah it is, but now we need to talk about something that we can't talk about here." I said quietly causing both of them to furrow their eyebrows. "Also, we're getting ready to close up shop and then the three of us have been called to the penthouse tonight." I added then walked away with muffled curses coming from behind me.

Rose and I were worried Alice wouldn't keep her mouth shut and that one of us would crack under the sure to happen questioning from the guys after my stellar performance in VIP that night.

Alice knew that Rose and I would do everything in our power to keep her mouth shut.

It would be difficult to get out of there and not stay the night. Since we had to be ready by 10:30 for their arrival, we would definitely need to get back to our apartment for at least some sleep.

Since we hadn't planned on joining the boys in their hotel we didn't have anything to change into so walking through the lobby of the hotel drew more than a few stares.

Nothing had been said between the three of us after I broke the news of us going to see the boys and the tension hung thick in the air. I could tell Alice wanted to say something but for some reason kept her mouth shut, which was totally out of character for her.

Same for Rose, but as we stepped off the elevator and before we knocked on the door she said the one thing I would have said.

"Stick to the fucking plan." She whispered but still with authority.

"Fine." Alice said then knocked on the door.


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hello lovelies! Short chapter but that's because when I was writing it I came to a natural end on EPOV's and needed to start BPOV's because the next chapter HAS to be in BPOV. ;-)**

**So for anyone who cares, my trip to Vegas was AMAZING! I lost all my money but it was a trip to remember for a lifetime and managed to spawn a little story idea based on my personal experience with _The Thunder From Down Under_ boys... (story might just have to be written now along side this one...) If you don't know _Thunder From Down Under_ and you're of age and like hot Aussie boys then you really should check it out. LOL. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

It didn't take a damn genius to realize that something wasn't right with Bella. I sure as shit noticed it and that was before shit really hit the fan in the VIP room with her and Victoria almost going at it.

I almost felt like Bella was intentionally aiming to piss Victoria off, which didn't make any damn sense to me at all. But that's exactly what it seemed like. It was almost like Bella had given up and had resigned to some sort of fate.

This scared me even more, so the fact that I knew they were on their way to our hotel made me relax a little bit, but at the same time something in my gut was telling me that the visit wasn't going to be one that eased my nerves at all.

The way Jasper sprinted to the door when the girls knocked told me that he was a bit more anxious than he had seemed in the club too.

"What did Denali want at lunch today?" He asked immediately after the door was shut and locked.

Alice exchanged looks with Rose and Bella before rolling her eyes and sighing.

"Nothing. He just wanted to see how we were settling into the jobs and the city."

"Fucking bullshit." Emmett declared standing up from his position on the couch.

"What he said." I said. "I hope you've lied to Denali better than you just did to us."

"It's not a lie." Bella smiled sweetly and she casually walked my way. "He asked how we liked the shopping and if we were enjoying working for him."

"What else did he ask?" I asked through clenched teeth. I'm a fucking cop – I know how to interrogate people and I know how the clever ones clarify their sentences to technically not lie but not include everything.

"Nothing." Rose shrugged then sat down on the couch where Emmett had just vacated.

"Ok fine…what else did he _want_ then?" Jasper asked getting frustrated with the line of questions.

They were hiding something from us. They _never_ had been so coy with their responses nor did they ever exchange that many glances between each other when discussing the case.

My heart sunk to my stomach at the realization that Alice didn't want to keep it from us, but Rose and Bella definitely did.

Had Denali flipped Rose and Bella and threaten Alice with her life?

I wanted to vomit right there as the thought crossed my mind.

Then I remembered that the way Bella acted in VIP was angry and pissed off at Denali and Victoria. She was definitely not their friend or ally.

But then why was she keeping something from us…from _me_?

"Look we have to tell them!" Alice shouted.

"Well fuck, we have to _now_!" Rose yelled back.

"They already know something's up and if we continue to skirt around their questions they're just going to keep asking and we'll be at it all night and all I want to do is take Jasper into that room and lock the door for a couple of hours!" Alice continued to yell at her friends.

It looked like both Bella and Rose wanted to strangle the life out Alice.

"What the hell is going on?!" Emmett boomed so loud that we all flinched but the girls still said nothing. "God damn-it Rosie! Tell me what the hell is going on. NOW!"

"He's asked us to help him with a business deal." Rose sighed.

I wasn't convinced that this was what they were hiding. We had wanted them to get close to Denali and get details on how he operated so we could tie the drugs and money to him. This was sort of what we wanted to happen so why were they trying to keep it from us?

"That's it?" Jasper asked with a raised eyebrow and apparently on the same train of thought I was on.

"That's it. He's picking us up tomorrow morning so we can't stay the night here. We've only got a couple of hours together so let's not waste any more of it talking about something that really isn't a big deal." Bella said trying to obviously move us off of the subject.

"Nope. Not dropping it this that quick." I said. "You're still not telling us everything because if this was truly it, you wouldn't have tried to hide something from us."

"I told you two we should have just come out and told them from the get go – now they think we're hiding more." Alice commented which earned yet another strange look from her friends. A look of surprise if I had to categorize it.

"We didn't want to tell you because you'll follow us…" Bella said but was cut off by Jasper.

"Damn right we're going to follow you."

"See and that's what we think shouldn't be done. We think he's testing our loyalty and if he sees someone following us, not only will it blow your cover but it will put us in danger. Right now we're just assisting him with a deal but it could escalate into something much larger if he spots a tail. Just let us do what you asked us to do and don't follow us. _Promise us_ you won't follow." Bella said with pleading eyes.

What she said made sense – in a way. And I wanted to do what she asked because it was logical and the cop side of my brain was agreeing with her argument, but the side of me that wanted to protect her and keep her safe always was telling me that it was still all very fishy and that we should follow them.

"She's right, bro." Emmett sighed clearly not happy about having to say it.

"We have no reason to suspect that he wants to harm them or that he thinks they might be undercover for us. We should let this play out. We've been keeping a close eye on all communications and people involved in his ring and nothing has given us cause to think that anything bad is going down or that they think something's going on." Jasper said.

"Fine." I huffed. "We'll stay off it." I said. I noticed Jasper's lip twitch as he fought the smile on his face. He at least noticed what I did with my statement.

"Cop's daughter here fellas." Bella said with no sense of humor in her tone. "_No one_ is to follow…you or anyone else. No one. You get that? So don't be calling in a favor to your fellow DEA agents and have them tail us or FBI or local LEO's…NO ONE is to follow us. If anyone – even Joe Blow from the corner – is seen following us, we'll be in trouble. And you know it."

"She caught your sneaky ass." Emmett said with a grin as he took Rosalie's hand and led her down the hall to his room.

Jasper shrugged his shoulders, his way of saying 'we tried', before he and Alice too disappeared.

"Bel…" I started but she cut me off by placing her finger on my lips.

"Don't say anything more on the subject. I just want to spend some time with you right now. Just you and me. Nothing else. I need it to be just you and me right now." She said then kissed me before walking away and towards the bedroom we had shared the night before.

It took a few seconds longer than it should have for my brain to make to my feet work, but I was soon following her.

The scene in front of me when I walked into the bedroom was exquisite. She was standing with her back to me and she was in the middle of pulling her shirt off.

There she stood in only black lace boy shorts and a black lace bra. I wanted to worship her again and every night going forward.

"Edward." She sighed with nothing but lust in her voice. She still hadn't turned around but I just knew her eyes were hooded and dark with need.

Hell mine were.

We hadn't even touched each other yet except for a simple kiss, and I was already standing at attention for her so much so that my pants were incredibly uncomfortable.

I stripped those bitches off in a second. The shirt followed quickly after that and then I was directly behind her pushing the evidence of my need against her back.

"Fuck." She moaned then leaned her head back against my chest as my hands found their way to her breasts.

I sucked a breath through my teeth when she reached her hands up and into my hair as she started grinding her ass against me.

"Jesus Bella…if you're not wanting this to go any further then I need to know now so I can try to control…"

"I don't want you to make love to me tonight..." She said as she turned around to face me. I'll freely admit that I was a little disappointed at first, but then I was able to stare into her. "I want you to fuck me." She enunciated each word.

That was all I needed to hear.

I grabbed her by the waist and roughly shoved her onto the bed. I'm pretty sure I even fucking growled.

I stripped us down the rest of the way and then flipped her onto her stomach.

"On all four." I demanded and watched as she quickly and anxiously positioned herself.

I ran my hand from her right breast down to her sex and then inserted a finger to make sure she was ready for me.

She was already so worked up that it wouldn't have taken much to push her over the edge and so when I curled my finger just right she came undone for me.

"FUCK!" She said as her limbs became weak and she almost collapsed but before she could I quickly rammed into her and wrapped my arm under her to help support her weight.

I wasn't going to last long and I was making sure she was going to come at least twice for me.

It was purely selfish reasons – she was magnificent when she was coming and I wanted to see it. And as often as possible.

Luckily it didn't take but a few deep forceful thrusts on my part until I felt her walls start to clinch again so I quickly flipped her back over and tried to lay her on her back but she managed to flip us again and put herself on top of me.

I wasn't far from the edge myself and her moaning my name over and over again wasn't helping me control myself at all.

She started out slowly rocking back and forth but then out of nowhere she lifted herself up and almost completely off of me then slammed herself back down on me before riding me. "Fuck Bella…"

"So good…" She moaned and arched her back. "So close…"

"Me too baby." I grunted as I grabbed her hips and started meeting her thrust for thrust.

"There…oh…holy shit!" She exclaimed and her walls clenched down on me as my own orgasm hit.

She let her body collapse into me; I slipped out of her and let her get comfortable next to me in bed.

"I didn't know it could be like that." She said as she put her head on my chest.

"Bella…how many partners have you had?" I asked nervously and not expecting an answer at all. I knew the possibility of just pissing her off, but that comment tied to what was discovered the night before had spiked my curiosity…and jealousness.

Luckily for me she didn't seem upset by the question but she did think awhile before deciding to tell me.

"One…well two counting you I guess. Jacob wasn't exactly blessed in the size department and we were both young and didn't know what we were doing. I don't even remember the first time…we were both so tripped out on peyote and booze that neither of us remembered. We went on a date and ended up in the backseat of his car for round two. But that was the end of it, I left Forks with Rose and Ali and that was the last time I even had sex. In fact until you came along I wasn't interested in any guy…you and Jacob are the only two men to see me naked."

I was shocked at her revelation. I mean I had expected her to tell me she didn't have that much experience but the fact that it'd been basically 4 years since she had sex and that only 2 men had ever seen her naked…I was just stunned. Take her lifestyle…living in New York City, young, single, beautiful, and working at a bar, finding out she hadn't dated in the 3 years that they were there was the last thing I expected her to tell me. For some strange reason she seemed worried about what my response was going to be so I tried to ease her mind by smiling and attempting a humorous response.

"Peyote? Really Bella?" I said with a raised eyebrow and smirk, which to my relief made her laugh. "I'm surprised that you didn't date in New York, though." I added. "I'm happy don't get me wrong…just surprised."

"Boys tried…they tried so much it was obnoxious and I just lost interest in the whole game." She said as she untangled herself from me and headed towards the bathroom.

When she came back out instead of getting back into bed, she started putting her clothes back on.

"What are you doing?" I asked sitting up in bed to watch her.

"Can't stay the night tonight, remember?" She asked as she pulled her shorts up.

"I don't want you to leave. I feel so used." I pouted as she finished getting dressed.

"You feel used? I'm the one here that's a hired whore…" She said but before she could even finish the sentence I was out of bed and standing in front of her.

"Never say that again. Just because Denali thinks that's what you are…it's not at all how it is. I can't wait for this to be over so I can really show you how I feel about you. I want to scream it from the roof tops that I found you and that you're mine. I want to introduce you to Carlisle and Esme. They'll love you. Shit…I love…"

"Edward you don't know me at all…don't say that. For all we know everything will change when this is all done." She said as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "But thank you for tonight." She whispered before standing on her toes and kissing me.

The kiss was filled with raw emotions that all but knocked me on my ass. It was desperate, needy, lustful, and sad. The kiss should have given me another hard-on but the emotions behind it did the exact opposite to me.

It felt like goodbye.

And then she said it…

"Goodbye Edward."

And just like that she was gone. By the time I got my pants on she was nowhere to be found in the hotel room. The only thing I found was two other very confused half-naked DEA agents.

_What the fuck had just happened?_


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn...I was going to leave you hanging in a really bad place with this chapter (you'll probably be able to figure out where I was going to leave it) but then I decided that I'd give you a little more which is why there was a bit of a delay in posting. **

**Gearing up for the end of May in Indianapolis and the summer concert season (11 on the schedule for me so far this summer) so lots of things going on but I'm gonna try to get the next chapter out as quickly as possible for ya b****ecause the next few or so are gonna be pretty big ones for the story.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 21<strong>

I wasn't prepared for the rush of emotions that hit me as I left Edward's side and then when he tried to tell me that he loved me I all but fell apart right there in that bedroom.

By asking him to not be gentle with me and not make love to me, I had mistakenly thought it would keep emotions out of everything.

What I didn't foresee was the fact that I too was in love. I wasn't ready to admit it out loud but I definitely loved that man. It didn't matter that we weren't slow and affectionate with each other, the emotional connection between Edward and I was undeniable. It pained me to leave his side and go off to what I was almost totally convinced was going to my death.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that James definitely suspected something. The way he studied the three of us in the club, some of the things that were said and the tone behind them, and of course the fact that our cell phones (our only GPS locators) were to be left behind all pointed to a very bad situation.

I had started to question what we were doing and was starting to see what Alice had been saying. We could run and never look back and save our lives. But as I thought this, I realized that if we ran we would have to leave everyone else behind; Edward, Emmett, and Jasper included. My heart literally ached at the thought of leaving Edward behind.

I could tell Edward my suspicions and we could go into protective custody and they could protect us from harm while they try to gather the information they required in order to put James Denali behind bars.

But then I remembered the leak in the DEA and if we were put into protective custody we would be located and possibly killed and anyone guarding us would be in danger.

We were in a no-win position of the worse kind.

So I said goodbye to the man I loved with a searing kiss and met my two best friends at the door to the hotel room.

No words were spoken between the three of us until after we met by our door right before 10:30. We exchanged small smiles when we realized we had all dressed in jeans, club type shirts, and some sort of high-heeled boot. Seemed we had all prepared for possibly needing to run or cause damage in shoes that wouldn't slip off our feet.

As I opened the door to Laurent, I finally spoke the words that instantly caused Rose and Alice to pale.

"We're to leave our cell phones."

"I hate you." Alice whispered and I could tell that at that point in time she really did hate me.

"I hate me too." I sighed as I placed my phone on the dining room table. Rose and Alice followed suit with Laurent looking on smugly.

"Are you three ready?"

"Yes." We all answered then followed him out and locked the door behind us. Instead of leading us to the garage or out the front lobby, Laurent led us out a back door we didn't even know existed and to a waiting limo in the alley behind our building.

"Watchful eyes you know." Laurent said with a smirk as he opened the door for us. When we slid into the limo, we found James waiting with a smile on his face.

"Morning ladies. You all look very lovely. I appreciate you being on time as well."

I was having a hard time calming myself enough to speak as it was so the fact that his dark, cold, calculating eyes were staring at me made it impossible for me to form a response that sounded normal and unsuspecting.

"Thank you. We didn't want to disappoint you." Rose said earning a chuckle from James and Laurent. But I was grateful because her comment took James's eyes off of me.

Aside from a few whispers between James and Laurent and a phone call from whom I guessed to be Victoria, the almost two hour car ride was painfully quiet.

Alice and Rose both deliberately ignored me, going out of their way to avoid eye contact with me.

"There seems to be a rift in the group." James noted at one point to which I simply just nodded my head and went back to staring off into space.

It was another 30 minutes from that when the partition between the driver and us was rolled down revealing Felix.

"Sir, we're close now and we've not been followed."

"Good, good. Victoria just texted and said she and Michael are there waiting for us as well." He responded to Felix but glanced in our direction. "The delivery should be arriving any minute as well, correct?"

"Yes sir. I received the GPS alert that the delivery is on final approach."

"Excellent." He smiled.

I took the moment to really look out of the dark tinted windows for the first time and realized that we were truly in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing except the arid desert.

And then the car stopped, but no one made a move to exit the vehicle. I nervously looked to Rose and Alice and for the first time since I told them about leaving our cell phones, they were actually looking at me as well.

Rose opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the sounds of a plane approaching our location.

James nodded towards Laurent to which Laurent returned the small nod and stepped out of the car. Felix stepped out as well leaving James and the three of us alone.

"I want to let the three of you know that you've passed your test and you're free to breathe again." He said with a sinister smirk.

I wanted to let out a huge sigh of relief but instead I plastered on an equally evil smirk ready to respond to him but Alice beat me to it.

"I can't believe you ever doubted our allegiances." Alice said as she examined her nails like she was bored.

"Wonderful. I think the three of you will definitely be assets to my business. You're snarky and smart and beautiful. Men can't resist and will buy anything you're selling." James laughed like he didn't have a care in the world before knocking one knuckle on the window signaling for the door to be opened. "Ladies first." He motioned for us.

Rose exited first then Alice. I was right behind Alice but James grabbed by hand.

"You're to stand next to me." He said then jerked his chin gesturing me to continue with my exit, James right behind me and still gripping my hand.

When I first stepped out of the limo, the sun was so bright my eyes took a second to adjust but when they finally did I could see the scene in front of us.

One single Learjet, no actual runway, and no buildings.

We were seriously in the middle of nowhere and it was like a scene out of a bad movie. They had landed the drug plane in the middle of the desert with a dirt runway and away from prying eyes.

Victoria was standing next to a man with blonde hair, wearing a badly tailored suit, and cheap sunglasses. He seemed to be more interested whatever was on his phone than the events around him. And even though Victoria's arm was wrapped tightly around his, she was shooting daggers in my direction as James and I stood next to each other.

Rose and Alice were flanked on one side by Felix and the other side by Laurent. They both looked relieved and yet somehow still tense as well. I figured I looked the same way. Even though he had said we passed the test, it didn't mean anything. He could have still been testing us to see how we would react. Maybe even slip up thinking we were in the clear. I wasn't going to be completely relieved until the asshole was dead.

As I thought through different scenarios and how things could play out, the door to the jet opened and a set of stairs descended.

A few seconds later, two men bigger than Felix stepped out of the plane and down the stairs. After they were on the ground, an older man wearing a white suit and a white fedora with a red feather in it stepped into the door of the plane. He had a cane and tacky as hell alligator shoes on.

It was seriously all I could do not to laugh. Alice's mouth dropped wide open and Rose covered her snicker with a cough.

"He's very cliché isn't he?" James whispered in my ear before dragging me off to go meet the three men. "Antonio! My dear friend." He greeted the man in the white suit.

"James." He nodded curtly before glancing in my direction then over to Alice and Rose. "Who have you brought with you?" He asked.

And as James regaled Antonio with our story I let my eyes continue to take in every detail possible. It was because of doing that I was caught the sudden change in Michael's demeanor. I also noticed Victoria's expression go from bitchy to murderous in a split second.

She and Michael had a very quick exchange and then Victoria looked at James. There was no noticeable movement from her, but in a split second everything I had worried about happening was truly happening.

I saw Felix and Laurent both pull their guns and point them at Rose and Alice.

At the same time James wrapped his left arm around my neck, his right hand holding a gun he pressed into my side.

"They're fucking DEA!" Victoria shouted after the three of us were secured and she and Michael approached the group from our left. "I fucking told you!" She added as they came to stand still only a few feet from my left side.

And at that point, Antonio's goons also pulled guns, two each; Goon #1 on Antonio's right had one pointing towards Victoria and Michael, one at James and I and Goon #2 had both of his pointing at Rose, Alice, Felix, and Laurent.

"Christ, Cesare get your fucking gun off Victoria." Antonio said with a sigh to Goon #1 who moved his one weapon off her and aimed it at James and me.

"I'm sure you know that I'm not behind this. I'm as outraged as you are to find out they're DEA." James said as he pushed his gun harder into my side causing me to yelp in pain and surprise. Rose and Alice both gasped but otherwise remained silent.

"We're not…" I tried but James pushed the gun into my side again effectively shutting me up.

Antonio examined James a little bit longer before nodding his head.

"Cesare, Joseph lower your weapons and get back on the plane. We'll not be doing business with Mr. Denali today and we'll let him _handle_ his own _personnel_ problems."

With that the two goons holstered their weapons and stood guard until their boss re-boarded the plane and then followed him before closing up.

Victoria and Michael started walking towards the back of the limo and James pulled me that way with his arm still around my neck and his gun still in my side.

I glanced over at Rose and Alice the best I could and saw Felix and Laurent push them with the barrels of their guns to follow as well.

Once we were all at the back of the limo I tried again to speak.

"James…" I started but he cut me off.

"Are you working with the DEA?" He asked.

"No we're not." I pleaded as convincingly as I could.

"Don't lie to me." He seethed as he moved his gun from my side to my head and then I heard him cock it. "Now let's try this again. Are you working with the DEA?"

I heard Rose and Alice both sniffle and my eyes met their worried ones but I stayed quiet.

"The truth Isabella." James spit out in warning and then Felix and Laurent both cocked their guns as well and put them right against my best friends' heads.

"Is this really necessary? I already told you they are. Just shoot them already." Michael said.

"I have to agree with Michael." Victoria sneered. "I fucking told you I didn't trust them. Their backgrounds were too _perfect_." She said as she pulled her own gun.

"Victoria." James warned. "I want Isabella to tell me the truth."

"We're not agents." I said through tears. "I swear we're not!"

"Ok well that's the truth…they aren't." Michael spoke up again. "They're working undercover though. The pictures and names Vicki gave me to search came up clean. Nothing under the names and I can't search by pictures." He said with a chuckle but when James glared at him he continued talking.

"Before I left New York yesterday I overheard the boss say something about the witnesses to Wilcox's murder being in LA. I went back through my copy of the Wilcox file but it mentioned nothing about witnesses. The original file that my copy came from was nowhere to be found in the office. I even picked the locks to all the file cabinets. Notta damn thing, which made me even more suspicious and then I remembered my partner worked the case when it first happened.

I made a call to an associate of mine who did some investigative work for me since I had to be here…well he literally _just_ emailed me what I had been waiting for – a copy of that original file. Their pictures match those of the witnesses in the file. They were using false identities in New York and someone has gone to extreme measures to keep their real names out of the DEA system. Even their warrants, which are marked as being served, were under their false names and random fake social security numbers. These three are witnesses and being used undercover with the DEA. I promise it."

The realization that the boys had done everything in their power to protect us hit me hard. By changing the DEA records the boys had put their careers on the line for us. I knew they had to be sneaky about using us undercover since it was off the books but I didn't realize how many details went into that. They had thought of everything to keep us as protected as possible and then we made that would ultimately make their risks null.

"Who is your partner that worked this original case? Is he part of this undercover bullshit?" Laurent asked.

"Seth? Oh fuck no…that boy doesn't have sense to pull this off at all. It has to be his previous partner. Cullen and I suppose Victoria's step-father had a hand in this as well. He's the only one I can think of that would be able to doctor the records the way they've been." Michael replied.

The mention of Victoria's step-father registered with me for a split second but then the more important fact that Michael had mentioned took over all thought. He knew Edward and if he was even a little bit smart he'd be able to put the pieces together.

"Where is this Cullen?" James asked me and even if I had the chance to tell him I wouldn't have told him. Unfortunately Michael answered for me.

"I overheard a conversation Seth was having. I think it was with him but I don't know for sure…anyways I'm almost positive he's UC right now too." Michael spoke up.

"Would you just shut the fuck up already." I growled at Michael.

"You're in no position to be making demands Miss Swan." Victoria said. "I know of this Cullen, step-father talks fondly of him often. We'll get an ID quickly, no worries." She smirked.

"I'm very disappointed Isabella." James sighed as he ran the barrel of his gun down the side of my face with a softness that worried me. "Killing you will be the only one I regret."

"We'll tell you everything." Alice broke down and desperately pleaded.

"Oh I know you will." James said. The cold metal of the gun disappeared off my skin and then I watched as Felix and Laurent both pistol whipped my friends knocking them out cold. And then everything was dark for me as well.

The pounding in my head was the only thing that clued me into the fact that I was still alive.

I had no idea where I was or how long I had been unconscious. As my mind became clearer, I replayed the last things I remembered. The giant knot on my head told me that I had in fact been hit in the head with James's gun. The dried blood in my hair told me that it had been as hard as it felt too.

I would have rather been shot in the desert honestly, because now we had the horrible truth to face that we were hostages.

And even as that thought went through my mind I realized that I had no idea if _we_ were hostages or if I was the only one. I couldn't see anything in the dark room I was in. And I had no way of knowing if they had ended up killing Rose and Alice in the desert or if they took all three of us.

I couldn't hear anything and without being able to control myself I started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Bells?" A soft panicked whisper sounded in the dark.

"Rosie?" I forced out as I squinted in the direction I thought her voice came from, trying desperately to see anything at all. I stood up to try and find her.

Before my eyes completely adjusted to the darkness though, her body collided with mine from the side.

"Oh Bells! You're okay! I thought they killed you!" She cried as we both collapsed to the floor still hugging each other.

"I thought he saved me but killed you." I said as I embraced her tightly. "Where's Ali?"

"I don't know!" She cried hysterically. "She was sitting next to me and then Felix opened the door and grabbed her by her arm and dragged her out before shutting the door again. I think it was like an hour ago but I don't know! I was so focused on them taking her I didn't take the time to see if you were here and then they shut the door and it was so dark again and I couldn't see or hear if…" She continued wailing but had to stop when she couldn't breathe anymore.

I wanted to tell her we'd be okay. That everything would be okay, but I couldn't do it and even if I could she'd know it was a lie so I stayed quiet and we held onto each other.

The comfort didn't come though and eventually the door opened again. Felix appeared and he had a limp body in his arms.

"Alice!" Rose yelled as she stood up and ran towards the man holding our friend. "You fucking asshole!" She shouted but he just laughed then dropped Alice's body onto the ground.

I heard her ribs break even over Rose's continued yelling but then I heard a moan from Alice.

Rose heard it too and shut up then dropped quickly next to Alice. I met her there and before he shut the door again leaving us in the dark, I was able to see that Alice's eyes were open and she was crying.

She was alive, but she was in extreme pain.

"Ali?" I asked as I tried to calm my own tears.

"I didn't tell them anything, but they know. They know who the boys are…" She said then trailed off. I felt her body give out again.

"Bella!" Rose panicked. I fumbled in the dark to find a pulse and when I was able to locate one, I sighed in relief.

"She has a pulse."

"They tortured her." Rose stated the obvious.

"Why…why…why…" I started repeating over and over again before I stood up and walked over to the door and began beating on it with all my strength.

"You motherfuckers! Why did you take her?! Why didn't you take me?! WHY!?" I continued yelling as I beat the door relentlessly. I didn't know if anyone could hear me, but I didn't care. It was making me feel better.

"Please Bells…" Rose cried from behind me still on the floor with Alice. "Please…" She said again after I stopped.

"I want to know why they took her." I growled in anger before beating on the door again. "Did you take her because you thought she was the weakest?! James you're nothing but a fucking coward!" I shouted.

In the middle of the next round of slamming my fist against the door, the door swung open. The brightness at first blinded me but as I squinted through the brightness I was able to pick out who was standing in front of me.

James Denali.

I did the first thing that came to mind.

I reared back and punch him square in the face with all my strength left. I actually managed to knock him on his ass.

"Rose get Ali…we're gonna run…" I said quickly and motioned for Rose to hurry up.

Rose was up with Alice in her arms within a second, but it didn't matter because before they could get through the door, it was slammed shut leaving them on one side and me on the other side with Felix, Demetri, Michael, and one pissed off James Denali.

"Now Isabella what made you think that was a good idea?" James asked as he rubbed where I hit him.

"Gonna have a nice shiner there asshole. Want me to give you a matching one on the other side." I seethed and stalked forward.

James just smirked. "Grab her and bring her to the office."

Felix grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me towards the opposite direction of the room we were being kept in, which as I took in the scene, I realized was an old storage room or closet of some sort and we were in some sort of airplane hangar.

"Seriously." I laughed. "It's like you watched one movie and decided to model your entire business after it! How in the hell have you all managed to stay one step ahead of the DEA? You're obviously not very creative." I snorted.

"It helped that we had Michael to give us all we needed. It's because of his efforts that we were able to stay this far ahead of the DEA." James said from in front of us. I turned to my right and saw a smug Michael.

"You're a fucking cunt." I growled towards Michael to which he just smirked.

"It's handy when your wife's step-father is a big dog in the DEA. She gets me passwords from his files and I do the rest. Relay the information back to Denali or Victoria." He grinned.

"Speaking of Victoria…how do you feel about sharing her with Denali and every other guy in the _family_." I said to Newton.

"HA! Victoria would never cheat on me." He said and I couldn't help it, I started laughing again. He was not only an asshole he was stupid and blinded by what he thought was love.

"You realize she's married or something to Denali too, right? You're a pawn in their game. You're a tool. She's using you to get what _they_ want. You're nothing to her. You _mean_ nothing to her." I said as I tried to pull away from Felix and get in Newton's face. "You're a moron and you're being used."

Newton pulled his gun and held it up to my head. I leaned forward and pressed my head to the barrel.

"You know it's true or you wouldn't be ready to shoot me." I further enraged him.

His gun cocked and he was seconds away from pulling the trigger when James spoke up.

"She's right Newton." He laughed and then Newton did the stupidest thing he could have done. He moved his gun from me to Denali.

Demetri didn't even hesitate. He pulled his gun and shot Newton in the head.

"Hope you're satisfied now Isabella." James sighed and continued on to his office with Felix pulling me behind him. "Now I have to find a new mole."

Aside from the blood that was now on my clothes and my skin and in my hair, I was satisfied.

Once in James's office I was unceremoniously dropped in a chair and then my arms and legs were tied down. Felix and Demetri left the office and shut the door behind them.

"Alice gave us nothing to work with earlier, but it doesn't matter. It's been confirmed that the Edward Cullen with the DEA is the undercover Edward that is trying to buy drugs from me. The same one you fucked on my command. His partners Jasper and Emmett? Yeah I know they're DEA too. They're scheduled to come to the club tonight and pick up their shipment. The shipment I didn't get today because of you. I'm still going to meet them at the club, but I will kill them at the club and then I will come back and kill you three, but there is one thing I still want from you…" James said then slapped me across the face. I could tell he wanted to say more but was cut off when Demetri stuck his head into the office.

"Sorry boss but…we have a problem." He said. James sighed heavily then walked towards his bodyguard.

"This better be a _big_ problem." James whispered. Demetri glanced back at me and I pretended to not be paying attention.

"Just got word that the DEA agents checked out of their hotel and no one knows where they are or what they're up to."

"This is a stupid fucking problem to have." James seethed. "How did we LOSE THEM!" He shouted. "I thought Alec and Marcus were on them!"

"I don't know boss…" Demetri said again as his eyes shifted to me. "We think they might be headed to the girls' apartment maybe but we really don't know..."

"Do I have to fucking do everything?! Let's go meet up with Alec and Marcus." He growled and started to leave.

"Boss…"

"WHAT?!"

"Do you want to leave her here or…"

"Fuck. Take her back down to her friends. And tie them this time. That shouting and banging was annoying as hell."

"Yes sir." Demetri nodded before he walked over to me, cut my restraints then threw me over his shoulder and carried be back to the room in the back of the hangar.

Demetri swung the door open and then rudely dropped me on my ass.

I was definitely going to have a bruise on my tailbone after that drop.

"Bella!" Rose shouted like she was surprised to see me and then immediately started crying harder than she already had been. "I heard a gunshot and…"

"How's Ali?"

"I'm okay." Alice responded weakly but with the light pouring into the room I could see a small smile on her face.

"_Demetri!_" James yelled from somewhere and I looked back up to Demetri only to see a roll of duct tape shining in one hand as he pulled zip ties out his pocket.


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N: I know what you're all thinking...an update so quickly?! It's true...I'm updating quickly this time around because I just couldn't leave it hanging it was for too long - not without you all getting mad at me. **

**Although I'm not sure you're going to like me when this chapter ends either. **

**Hoping to write a little this weekend - but I don't know if my schedule will allow for enough time to supply a properly written chapter to you. But I am hoping for another quick update just not sure it will be a week turn around like this one was.**

**As always, thank you for reading and reviewing! **

**~Tiff**

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><p><strong>Chapter 22<strong>

It was two hours after the girls left before the silence was broken between Jasper, Emmett, and I and it was Jasper who finally said what we all had been trying to figure out how to articulate.

"Did they just say good bye for good? And is it because they're skipping town on us for some reason or that they're expecting something bad to happen to today?"

"I refuse to accept either of those options." Emmett grumbled. "Why would they do either?" He added rubbing his hands over his face.

Either option was shit and the more I thought about the more pissed off I got. My anger jumped from being directed towards the girls, to Denali, but most of all myself and my partners.

Everything that was happening could be traced back to us being unable to do our job and dragging them in, or more specifically _letting_ them drag themselves in.

We should have put them into protective custody and kept them as far away from Denali as possible. Hell we should have moved them out of LA and somewhere off the grid completely.

"This is our fault." I said finally letting my anger bubble up to the surface.

"We can't change…" Jasper started.

"I fucking know that!" I roared.

"Edward, man…we're pissed too but getting upset at ourselves, or the girls for keeping us in the dark…and leaving us…won't get this problem solved." Emmett said.

"Em's right. The only thing we can do right now is our job and finish what we started with Denali. The sooner we get him taken care of the sooner we can get them safe…"

"What if it's already too late?" I mumbled. "What if they're in the worst kind of trouble? What if…what if they…" I couldn't even say it out loud.

"We can't entertain that thought at all or we won't be able to do our jobs." Jasper said. "We have to assume they skipped town and that they wouldn't be stupid enough to walk right into something."

Even as he said the words though we all knew that if the girls thought it would benefit the greater good then they'd do exactly that. They'd offer themselves up if they thought it would take Denali down.

We all knew it but we didn't say it. Instead we starting talking plans for the exchange that we had scheduled that night at the club. We couldn't call in for backup since no one knew we were undercover, so we'd have to try to capture it all on video and/or audio tape. The problem there was getting those things past any type of search they might do on us. Sure they hadn't done any type of search up to that point but we had only been discussing the deal and that's not a crime.

We unfortunately can't arrest someone for merely talking about dealing. We had to get them with the product and cash for it to really stick with any type of charges.

It was 1:00 in the afternoon when my personal cell phone rang and our conversations ceased immediately.

When I saw that it was Seth calling from New York though, my huge sigh of relief radiated to the boys who also relaxed.

It was sort lived.

"Seth man, what's up?" I asked but got no immediate response and instead got a heavy, shaky breath.

'_Edward we have a situation.' _

I tried not to expect the worse but it was damn near impossible.

"What kind of situation?" I strangled out earning the attention of Jasper and Emmett immediately.

'_The worst kind…I came home this afternoon after working a sting operation and found my apartment trashed. The kind of trashed that you know they were looking for something specific.'_

"What did they get?"

'_The file…my wall safe was broken into and they took the original Wilcox file...'_ He said then took a deep breath. _'They know who they are, Edward.'_

That was all it took. My legs gave out and I was on the ground before he had the whole thing out. It was all I could do to keep my phone in my hand.

"Are we sure it was them that pulled the file?" I strangled out, trying to grasp on to anything, any hope at all.

'_Who else would leave my cash and guns but pull a murder file with witness pictures. I am so sorry Edward…I thought they'd be safe out of the office away from the leak…'_

I wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, because it truly wasn't his fault but I just couldn't form the words.

"Do we know anything about the leak?" I said instead. That was where we needed to start.

'_We think it is Newton but he's on vacation right now…well what he says is vacation. We can place him in LA – arrived last night. After we started suspecting Newton, I ran his life…'_

He hesitated to continue and I still wasn't in a mindset to force him to.

They know who the girls are.

They know.

'_Edward?_ _Mike is married to Aro's step-daughter…'_

Aro? Aro's involved? Aro's a part of the leak?

'_They've seized his computers at work and home. They've frozen all of his assets and suspended him pending an investigation. As of right now nothing points that he had knowledge of anything though.'_

"Aro wouldn't…" I said but stopped when I couldn't catch my breath.

'_Where are the girls Edward?'_

"They're…they…they left us this morning for a meeting with Denali…a business deal…we haven't heard from them…"

'_Fuck.'_ Seth growled. _'Edward you need to find them. You need to get to them now. Odds are they know who you are too so watch your backs. I'm getting the first flight out of NYC to LA.'_

And then he hung up and I was left staring at the faces of the men who had quickly become brothers.

The anguish in their faces I was sure reflected my own.

"Odds are Denali knows who the girls are and us." I managed just above a whisper.

"Do you think they knew that and that's why they left the way they did?" Jasper asked.

"We have to hope that they did know and they skipped town to try and protect themselves." Emmett said.

"But we have to operate as if they didn't." I said as I managed to get my ass off the floor. "We have to assume their cover has been compromised as has ours. The original file that had all their real identities has been stolen from Seth's apartment…"

"And Aro?" Jasper asked.

"Victoria is his step-daughter. We have to assume he's a part of this and keep all details from him until IA can confirm that he's innocent. The guy who replaced me as Seth's partner is the leak…Aro placed him so it doesn't look good for Aro. Plus Victoria is married to the leak."

"I thought Victoria was married to James…" Emmett mused.

"Yeah me too…Seth didn't go into details on that whole thing, but Mike's files have her listed as his wife. I don't know what we…"

"This is bullshit!" Jasper roared hitting the anger stage and jumping off the couch and started pacing the room frantically.

"We have to stay collected. We have to use our training here. We can't give them the upper hand by letting our emotions control…" Emmett surprisingly said being the only rational thinking person at the moment apparently. "We're too close to this and if we're not careful it could not only get them killed it could get us killed."

Jasper stopped pacing and looked at both Emmett and I. "How do we separate ourselves from this personally?"

It was the question we had no idea how to answer but it was the question we needed to find an answer to immediately.

"Everything changes. Throw all of our plans out the window. First step is going to the office and enlisting help of anyone you can trust. Since we did this off books we're gonna need guys who won't immediately turn us over to Internal Affairs or worse, go to Denali." I said. "Odds are that we're being watched so we're going to have to do this covertly."

"How are we going to lose a tail? They'll be on us as soon as we leave the hotel." Emmett said as he started packing things up. "Plus we can't let them know that we're suspicious of them knowing who we are or we risk them hurting the girls…if they haven't already…"

"They haven't hurt them." I said needing to reassure myself more than anything. I had to keep telling myself that.

It was going to be the only way I would be able to think like the DEA agent I needed to be instead of the desperate panicked man I was threatening to become really quickly.

"We need to get to their apartment." Jasper said.

"It could be a trap." Emmett said making a good point, but I agreed with Jasper. We needed to get into that apartment. But did we do that first or did we wait until we had backup in place?

"We need to go to the office first and suit up…get our gear just in case it is. We also should take backup just in case, but we do need to get over there."

After deciding on a plan, we headed down to the lobby of the hotel, checked out, and had the desk call us a cab. While waiting on the cab we surveyed the surrounding street and even the lobby to see if we recognized anyone.

It wasn't hard to spot them from their post across the street. They clearly weren't the brightest of Denali's gang. They weren't sitting in their vehicle and in fact were at the sidewalk café just away from their SUV.

"Too easy." Emmett chuckled before ducking out the side entrance of the hotel and in position to get the plate numbers before calling it in to the local LEO's as a possible stolen vehicle.

The cops were swarming it before our taxi pulled up and then we pulled away undetected and free of a tail.

"Genius McCarty." I laughed as we sped our way through the streets of LA and to the office.

Once in the office we explained the situation to a couple of the guys who then were instantly on board with any plan we could come up with.

And after we commandeered an SUV from the impound lot, the five of us headed over to the apartment.

"Their car is in their parking spot." Jasper said as we turned a corner in the parking garage.

"Jared…Sam…search their car while we go upstairs." Emmett said.

"Are you sure Em? What if you need us upstairs?" Jared asked.

"Doubtful they'll have anyone in the apartment or hallway watching the place." Emmett said as Jasper parked the SUV and then five of us filed out of the SUV in standard formation coverage.

"Clear." I said. "We won't be long upstairs so just wait for us down here and keep an eye out…if you see anything radio up to us."

"Got it." Sam nodded as Jared set to work on unlocking the driver's side door of the girls' vehicle.

Emmett, Jasper, and I ran up the stairs forgoing the elevator to allow for a quieter entry to the floor just in case someone was standing guard of the door.

As expected though, no one was posted up outside. It took Jasper less than five seconds to pick the lock. And as he slowly opened the door, Emmett and I stood with our guns aimed and ready to fire if someone was on the other side.

And once inside we cleared the rooms before really taking stock of the scene.

"Purses and cell phones." Jasper said looking at the dining room table. We knew what that meant. That combined with absolutely nothing missing from the apartment, we knew.

The girls had left that morning not to skip town, but to follow through with their meeting with Denali.

"They're with him." I growled. "And they knew. They _fucking knew_ he was on to them when they did it."

I was unbelievably mad at them.

"We don't know that they knew." Emmett said. "They're not trained to pick up on things…"

"Which is exactly why we never should have allowed this to happen, to go on for as long as it did. We should never have let them go in to _Noir_." Jasper said. "We need to regroup…" He began again but we were cut off when Sam's voice came through our ear pieces.

'_You've got company…heading up the elevator right now. Get out of there.'_

"Shit." We all said.

"10-4, Sam." I said as we quickly grabbed their purses and phones then locked the door and headed towards the stairwell. We had just closed the door to the stairs when the elevator dinged alerting us to its arrival.

We didn't hang around long enough to find out who it was and quickly headed back down to the garage.

Sam and Jared were both on high alert when we came around the corner but instantly lowered their weapons when they realized it was the three of us. And then noticed the items we were carrying.

They too knew the implication of finding those objects.

"If he has them why was he here?" Jared asked.

"He's here? He's one of the guys that just went up to their apartment?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah…him and three others. We can totally take them in a sneak attack. We've got them outnumbered and we have the element of surprise." Jared said.

"As tempting as that is…if we take them now we won't ever see the girls again." Jasper replied. "We need to get out of here before they come back down."

Once we got back to the safety of the office we started formulating a plan.

We figured they'd assume we'd carry on with the deal tonight to try and catch them and we were sure they'd be planning to kill us then.

It was then that we'd have to make our move – when they were looking for us in the club, we'd need to make our move outside of the club.

It was understood that we didn't have time to mess around and that we had to do something that night. If we didn't then the odds of finding the girls alive were very slim…slimmer than they were at that point.

"We need someone they've never seen before to sneak under one of their cars outside of the club and plant a GPS tracker…" Jared suggested.

"It can't be another DEA agent…we have no idea what kind of information was provided to them by the leak or Aro if he's involved." Emmett reminded us all.

"Leah, Sam's ex, can do it…she's a private investigator; deals with trackers and things all the time. She'd be able to sneak in there and get that planted in a hidden spot really quickly." Jared shrugged.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable…" Sam started to protest but Jasper ignored his uneasiness.

"Get her in here right now." Jasper said as he started messing with the computer. "Just in case that fails I want a backup…we have Newton's cell phone number on file…I'm going to try and set up a trace on it and find out where he's been."

"What if he has two cell phones and the one he uses for business isn't his personal?" I asked.

"The dumbass probably always kept both on him at all times, meaning if I find one I can search the area for a second signal always close…" He said but trailed off. "Fuck!"

"What?" We all asked.

"It's off." He growled. "Leah better be damn good."

"She is." Jared responded. "Just sent her a message and told her to meet us here immediately and bring her supplies. She's on her way."

"Good." Emmett and I both said.

Leah showed up about an hour later and I understood why Sam was hesitant about asking her to help.

"Hey Jared." She smiled at him but then turned towards Sam. "And…asshole."

"Leah this is not the time. We need your help." Sam sighed.

"I assumed this much since I'm here, although Jared was brief in his text. Just said my skills were required tonight and to bring my stakeout gear." She said then dropped a huge ass black bag on the ground at her feet. "I'm assuming one of you idiots fucked up."

My eyebrows shot straight up in surprise.

"We have a need to trace a vehicle to location where we think they're holding 3 females." Sam said through a clenched jaw. She nodded then turned to the three of us for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"The idiots that fucked up." Emmett grinned. "Emmett McCartney." He offered his hand to which Leah smiled and shook. "We really appreciate your help on this case. We put in three undercover and they were compromised today. That's Jasper Whitlock and Edward Cullen."

"Are you sure they're still alive?" She bluntly asked causing all three of us to flinch. "Oh I see…you fell in love with your UC's…damn what a rookie mistake. Look fellas, I'll help with this but you know what the odds are here, right? Who's the dirt-bag?"

"James Denali." Jasper said and then it was Leah's turn to look surprised.

"Alright we're gonna need to plan this out. Let's order some Chinese and hash it all out." She said as she pulled her phone out to order. While she ordered we got everything spread out on the conference table. We had the details of all of Denali's men including Mike Newton and Aro and specs for the club scattered everywhere and there was so much information that we barely had room for our food.

We were standing around tossing around ides when we heard the door to the office open and close. I glanced down at my phone's time and saw that it was just about 8:30 and had no idea who would be walking into the department that late at night. We all had grabbed our guns and were ready to take action if needed.

"Cullen!" Seth's voice floated into the conference room. "Where the hell are you man?"

"Just my old partner from NYC, guys." I said and watched as everyone lowered their weapons and took a deep breath. "In here Seth!" I yelled back.

Seth agreed with our plan but was worried they'd find the GPS device.

Jasper had a response for him. We were hoping that one of Denali's men would have their cell phone and would use it while at the club so Jasper could sweep the area and grab their signal.

We knew it was a long shot but we didn't really have much else to go on. We had tried to find Denali's "base" many times…in New York, LA, and other cities, but came up empty every time. We knew where he lived but he never did anything illegal there so even though we had surveillance on those locations, it did us no good at all.

So basically odds were not in our favor for this plan of ours, which was essentially get a GPS tracker on Denali's car, follow it, then go in guns blazing and hopefully find the girls.

Killing everyone in our path because the legal system wasn't good enough for me. I wanted Denali dead.

I was out for blood and judging by the amount of weapons Jasper and Emmett were securing to themselves, they too were out for blood.

At 11:00 we headed out the back of the DEA office to avoid the two idiots that had pulled up about 30 minutes prior. The same idiots from earlier at the hotel. It wasn't hard to sneak around them and then call in a favor to have them watched.

Seth wanted to arrest them but then if Denali tried to check in with them and they didn't respond he'd get suspicious and blow the whole plan.

Leaving them to do their job was the best option.

We set our gear up in the building across the street from the club. Basically we broke in to it, but it was just a spa and their security system was bypassed by Jasper within seconds.

The meeting between Denali and us was supposed to go down at 1:00 in the morning so we expected him to show, if he was going to show, at around 12:30.

That was the other thing our planned hinged on…him actually showing up to do the deal. If he suspected anything then he'd probably not show and then everything would be shit.

We _needed_ him to show.

"The bastard just pulled up." Jasper whispered as he peered through the blinds of the spa. "He's got Victoria and Felix with him and they're all packing major heat. More than normal so we were right…"

"They're trying to ambush you." Sam finished.

"Odds are he expects you to carry on with business as usual to try and get him, but he's hoping to catch you off guard…" Seth said.

"Too bad for him, we're not going to show." Emmett chuckled. "Leah, are you ready?"

"Yep." She said as she finished strapping her bullet proof vest on and completing her head to toe black outfit. "I'll be in and out in under 2 minutes."

And then she was slipping out the back door and around the block to come up behind the car Denali got out of and avoid being seen by the bouncer standing outside at the front door to the club.

"She's just slid under the car and…damn now she's back out from under it." Jasper said.

"Told ya she's good at her job." Jared commented.

"Doesn't make her easier to deal with." Sam mumbled but was ignored because we were all focused on if the tracker was working.

"Signal is coming through nice and strong." Emmett said looking at the computer screen hooked up to the GPS.

"Of course it is." Leah scoffed as she slid back in. "Welp boys my job is done so if you don't mind I'm not going to be joining you in the gun fight later."

"Thanks again Leah." I said and offered her my hand.

"You're welcome Cullen, just don't fuck anything else up and go get your girls."

And then she was gone and we were back to playing the waiting game. Luckily the game didn't last long. Denali, Felix, Laurent, and Victoria were out the front door of the club fifteen minutes after 1:00 and were in the car and on the move.

"Game on." I said.


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N: ****READ FIRST! :-)**

**Usually I alternate between BPOV & EPOV but considering the current scene it required this specific portion of the story to be told from Edward's view. SO that's two EPOV chapter's in a row. **

**I had hoped to get this one out quicker but then before I realized it I was leaving on vacation to NYC and unable to take my writings with me so I was a week delayed. Plus it took me longer to write this than I had thought it would and then I rewrote it and changed things and if I don't post it right now, I'll continue to change things and never truly be happy with it so here it is! **

**Hope you like it. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23<strong>

**(EPOV)**

Aside from Emmett calling out directions to Jasper, the six of us had been silent as we followed the blue dot on Emmett's computer screen all the way to the outskirts of the city and into an old airplane hangar at an abandoned small airport.

We arrived roughly half an hour after Denali's car did and no one had left since so we assumed they were all still inside which meant we would more than likely be outnumbered and would affect our strategy or at least _should_ have.

Jasper parked behind a hangar two down from where the GPS told us our target was.

"Do we go now or do we wait?" Jared asked as we sat in the vehicle trying to form some sort of plan. This wasn't like the club had been – we had building plans and a lay of the land before we arrived. This time we had no idea what we were headed to until we actually got there and we had no way to know what kind of surveillance he had around the place.

Logically and rationally we should take the knowledge of location with us, go back to headquarters, research, and pull together a team before going in. As long as the GPS stayed active we'd be able to stay on him and we'd still be able to take our target down.

But aside from death, nothing was going to keep three of us from going in that night.

"It's a suicide mission if we go in now." Sam sighed knowing exactly what at least I had decided.

"It's a death sentence to the girls if we don't." Jasper said expressing my feelings exactly. "We didn't show tonight which means they know we know. We go tonight and if you boys don't want to join the three of us we'll do it without you."

"I'm in." Seth said looking at me. "It's my fault…"

"Seth it's not your fault. How were you ever to expect someone would break into your place? This is my fault if it's anybody's." I said.

"You're not taking full blame Cullen." Emmett growled.

"I think we should blame Denali." Jared said as he checked the magazine in the gun he was holding. "I'm in." He finished as he snapped it back into place.

"I can't let my partner go in without me." Sam grinned. "We're all fucking stupid."

We quietly filed out of the car and then started making our way towards the building we knew was holding Denali and that we hoped was holding the girls.

The night air calmed everything around us and the smallest noise echoed off the buildings around us. Every noise coming from the hangar could be heard as if we were right inside with them.

It was dark inside though – the only light coming from a window towards the front of the building, possibly an office of sorts. We couldn't make out much of anything else except that was definitely where they all were. I counted 5 figures moving around.

"We could just spray it with bullets from out here." Emmett snorted knowing damn well that if we did that we could easily injure one of the girls since we had absolutely no idea where they were.

"Did anyone bring a flash canister?" Sam asked.

"I've got one." Emmett answered.

"Good cause I think we're gonna need it." He said then motioned for us to fall back to regroup. "Look guys I think our best option is to go in with night vision, throw a flash canister and then while they're blind take them out before they have a chance to fire back at us."

"Side, back, or front?" Jasper asked.

"Two at each…I'll take back with Jared…"

"I'm going in the front." I said.

"Well I'm coming with you." Emmett said holding up the only flash canister we had.

"Leaves Seth and Jasper to take the side over there." Sam said pointing to what looked to be a side entrance. "If you get over there and realize you won't be able to get in shift to the front. Cullen and McCarty are gonna need the backup there."

"No radios so keep your eyes peeled for each other. We'll get in and set the canister off…that'll be your signal to enter. If you find the girls before we take out Denali the priority becomes getting them clear of danger." I said and they all nodded their acceptance of that.

"Boys…it's been a pleasure." Jared said then he and Sam disappeared into the dark.

"Don't get dead." Seth said to me then he and Jasper disappeared.

"Well Ed…let's do this…" Emmett said as we quietly made our way towards the door next to what we assumed was the office.

We made it almost all the way to the door before we realized someone had tripped some sort of alarm.

We watched as the shadowed figures rushed around before every single light in the building turned on.

"Fuck." I whispered and ripped off my night vision goggles. "No going in quietly now."

Emmett nodded stiffly before he kicked the door in. The gunfire started the second the door went flying in. I had no time to look at what we were facing and had to instantly take cover.

"Boss get back in the office." One guy yelled over the firing of the guns.

Emmett and I had yet to get a shot off and they had yet to stop firing. We were pinned down behind a desk or work bench of sorts that was providing cover but wouldn't much longer as the bullets riddled the structure occasionally sneaking through and hitting the wall we were facing.

The holes they were putting in it were providing a possible solution for us though. I turned my head and body just enough to look through one of the holes quickly hoping to get a glimpse of their positions.

"It's Felix and Demetri. Looks like they have standard Glock 17's…but I couldn't tell if they had any other weapons on them. They're standing at 10 and 2…Felix on my side."

"Count of three." Emmett said as we both made sure our gear was ready.

"Three." I confirmed.

When we emerged from behind our temporary shelter we got only a few shots off each before we saw Jasper and Seth sneak in behind them. I had hit Felix in the arm but it wasn't until Jasper's single bullet to his head that he dropped.

Seth fired shortly after and Demetri hit the ground. Within seconds two more of Denali's goons appeared from the back of the hangar and began firing at us.

Sam and Jared took them out from their spot at the back door before the four of us had a chance to fire back and then we all focused on the closed office door.

"Jared and I will clear the rest of the building." Sam said. We acknowledged him but said nothing afraid to take focus off the door.

"Denali!" Emmett roared itching to fire into the office but knowing he couldn't since we had no idea where the girls were.

We got no answer from inside the office and began worrying that maybe he had managed to sneak out so we started inching forward slowly but when bullets starting flying again we had to take cover.

"You're cornered asshole!" I yelled.

"Really?" His voice finally floated out to us; sounding every bit of sinister and like he knew something we didn't.

We remained positioned with our guns pointed towards the now destroyed office though waiting for the coward to appear.

But it wasn't him who showed us their face first. Victoria slowly appeared with a gun at the ready. Laurent followed shortly after in the same fashion.

We were all ready to take them out when I saw James move off to the side of the office door.

"WAIT!" I yelled frantically at the same time Jared came running from around a corner.

"We found them…but only two…" He yelled but stopped suddenly when he saw the scene playing out in front of him.

They had only found two of the girls because the third was being used as a human shield for Denali.

"What are you gonna do Cullen?" Denali sneered towards me as he pushed his gun into her temple. "You can't kill me without shooting her."

"Shoot him damn-it." Bella growled. Her hands were bound in front of her but it wasn't keeping her from fighting his hold and making it harder to get a clean shot.

"Wouldn't be smart." Victoria hissed as she took aim at Seth who had inched just a bit closer.

"You're too close to this Cullen. You'll never be able to sacrifice her life to take mine." Denali laughed.

"Edward…just fucking do it." Bella pleaded with me bringing my eyes back to her from Seth and Victoria.

I clenched my jaw at the sight of the blood stains on her shirt, her face, and even in her hair. I was beyond livid and so focused on her that I missed the shot to Victoria's shoulder and knee sending her to the ground and her gun sliding across the cement floor.

Within seconds, Laurent was firing in the direction the shot came from taking his focus away from us in front of him and providing us the opportunity to take him out of the equation. Multiple shots were fired and Laurent dropped lifeless to the cold floor.

With everyone else taken out, all of our guns were then trained on James but still no one had a shot to take that wouldn't also injure or kill Bella.

"Here's what's going to happen…" Denali said as he moved his gun from Bella's head to her right shoulder. "I'm going to walk out that door with my beautiful hostage here and you're going to let me or I will kill her."

"Like hell you are motherfucker." She said with a grimace and utter concentration on her face. I saw the determination in her eyes but by the time I realized what that crazy beautiful woman was going to do it was too late.

She reared her head back and knocked Denali in the nose with the back of head causing him to loosen his grip just enough that it allowed her to turn around and with bound wrists start to fight him for his gun.

"No! Bella!" Emmett shouted right as the gun went off.

As soon as the sound of the gun firing was heard everything moved into slow motion and I watched in horror as Bella fell to the ground landing on her side with her back facing me and the others. Nothing else mattered at that moment; Denali didn't matter any longer. Covering the others didn't matter. Protecting myself didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the woman lying motionless on the ground next to Denali.

I was running towards her as all of the others emptied their guns into the now unprotected and clueless James Denali. The possibility of the bullets hitting me as I ran to her, not even a thought in my mind.

As I kneeled next to her body all I could keep repeating was 'no.'

Once I got to her I carefully rolled her onto her back to try and assess the damage and figure out where she was hit.

My fingers instantly found her pulse so I knew she was alive and then they quickly started roaming her body trying to locate the source of the blood on her and where she was hit.

The blood stain growing larger on her right side told me where she was hit.

"Bella love…" I said trying to get her to wake up and focus on me before applying pressure to the area but I got no response so I gently started examining the area where the bullet was lodged in hip bone

I knew if she was conscious the pain would be almost unbearable as soon as I applied pressure and a part of me was hoping she would stay knocked out but the painful moan that escaped her as soon as I touched her wound told me she was definitely not out of it anymore.

Once I realized where exactly she was hit I took a deep sigh of relief because while it was one of the most painful places to get shot, it was also a great place because it wasn't a life threatening injury. Not an easy recovery process though.

"It hurts so fucking bad." She said as tears poured out of her eyes.

"I know…what were you thinking…"

"We've called the ambulance for her and Alice." Emmett said.

"Alice! She needs a medic…I'm fine go to her." Bella suddenly said trying to sit up.

"Jasper is with her. You need to relax." Emmett said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to gently guide her back down to a laying position.

"Just relax until they get here love." I said. I knew she was definitely in pain when she didn't argue. I again applied pressure to her wound to slow the bleeding and looked around at the scene surrounding us.

In a matter of 30 minutes the six of us had taken out Denali and at least the biggest part of his crew. All but Victoria were dead and even she was beginning to struggle the longer she was without medical attention.

It was as I looked around that I realized Emmett too had been hit.

"Emmett man…" I said looking at the blood dripping from his shoulder.

"Just a flesh wound Cullen. Just a flesh wound. A few stitches and I'll be good as new. Let's worry about Ali and Bella first." He said as the sirens finally started making themselves known in the distance.

With his reassurance I turned my attention back to Bella. I had so many questions for her and so many things to yell at her about, but it would all wait.

When the medics rushed into the hangar Sam guided two of them to Alice, who he advised was in no position to be moved without a neck brace and gurney. And two others approached Bella.

"Officer…" One medic said as they set their equipment down.

"Single gunshot wound to the right hip." I automatically said as I reluctantly left her side to let them work on her. "Unknown other injuries…" I choked out as I remembered the blood on her clothing and face.

Bella looked like she wanted to say something but an oxygen mask was put over her face and she was lifted onto a stretcher within seconds of me letting go of her hand.

As they got her positioned I saw them roll a stabilized Alice out of the back from around a corner. Heavy bruising was noticeable on her face and arms but she was awake and holding Jasper's hand tightly which was an excellent sign.

Rose was walking next to them and as soon as she saw Emmett was running to him.

"Rosie!" Emmett said as he met her halfway and scooped her up in his arms before attacking her lips.

"Go with Alice for now."

"Ok but…Bella!" She exclaimed as she saw Bella lying on the stretcher.

"She's fine. Go with Alice please." Emmett said again.

"Ok…see you all soon. Be safe." She said then kissed him again before rejoining Alice and Jasper after sending a final look towards Bella and me.

After that I turned my focus back to Bella I started following the paramedics as they wheeled her out to one of the waiting ambulances.

Jasper and I were both poised to hop into the back of the ambulances and ride to the hospital with the girls, but before we could even get the doors shut, three black, very distinctively DEA cars came skidding into the scene as did multiple LAPD squad cars.

And then the director of the Los Angeles office stepped out of his vehicle followed by other detectives in the other cars.

Detectives that were obviously Internal Affairs.

"Get your asses out of those ambulances right now." Director Anderson demanded as he pointed to Jasper and I. I turned back to Bella and saw her eyes pleading me not to leave her.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do and if I don't throw your asses in jail for this stunt _then_ you can go to the hospitals."

"I'll see you soon sweetheart, I promise. You're going to be fine. " I said as I kissed her hand.

She weakly nodded and dropped her hand from mine then disappeared behind the closed doors and the ambulance took off.

"Who wants to start explaining this to me?!" Anderson yelled. "You all are in some serious shit…you three more than the others!" He shouted again pointing to Jasper, Emmett and I.

"Well sir…" Emmett started but was cut off.

"Do you even know how many protocols and regulations you've broken here? Jesus fucking…I don't even know where to begin! I want to ring your necks for this fucking stunt! We have six dead bodies…Director Volturi's step-daughter is gravely injured and there's no official operation on the record! Do you even realize what kind of shit storm this has caused!? Do you!? Damn it! You stole a car from impound for crying out loud! What the hell were you all fucking thinking!?" He yelled then took a quick breath before continuing with his tirade. "You'll all have interviews with Internal Affairs within the next 24 hours so don't skip town. Until a final decision is made on how to officially handle this you're all suspended with pay."

We knew it was a possibility but it didn't change the fact that it pissed me off. We had killed one of the most notorious drug dealers in the country and we were going to possibly loose our careers because we didn't do everything exactly how the government wanted us to.

"Do you know I got a phone call at 2 this morning from an anonymous person that you idiots were gonna do something stupid but we had no idea where until the call for paramedics came in over the radios! Feds are on their way here too. Fucking ridiculous! And all because of some girls…if you had followed protocol from the get go with those witnesses…"

"If we had followed protocol then they would have been dead within hours of putting them in the system because of the leak! What about that asshole?!" Emmett shouted.

"The leak will be taken care of as soon as we find him." One of the internal affairs officers announced. I started to ask about Aro's involvement but the IA guy knew exactly what I was getting ready to ask and interrupted me before I could even speak stating that they couldn't discuss the ongoing investigation with persons outside of the investigating team.

"You lost Newton?" Jasper said through clenched teeth.

"We'll find him." Another IA officer said nonchalantly.

"It's not your worry Whitlock. All of you report back to the office and leave your badges and side-arms in my office...this includes you Clearwater. Since Volturi is currently out of commission and you've been active in my district without consent you're going to be treated as if you're part of this _team_…"

"_I am_ part of this team, sir." Seth stated forcefully.

"You'll be viewed as such during the reviews as well. I expect to see all six badges when I go into the office in a few hours after I clean this fucking mess up. And aside from your IA interviews I shouldn't see or hear a peep from any of you until the rulings are handed out. You're dismissed." He said then turned his back on the six of us and started talking to the LAPD officers, the Feds that had showed up, and the coroner effectively ending all communication with us.

"Fucking asshole." Sam mumbled as the six of us headed out and back towards the vehicle we had _borrowed_.

The ride back to the office was a quiet one and when we arrived we noticed that the two that had been watching the building were nowhere to found and I wondered if they had fled or if they had been arrested.

I really didn't care one way or the other.

I just wanted to get to the hospital so once Jasper had returned the SUV to the impound lot, I wasted no time getting up to Anderson's office to drop off my badge and gun.

The other were all right behind me.

I was sure at some point the fact that I was, at least temporarily, no longer a DEA agent would sink it but at that point it wasn't a priority to me. I had more important things on my mind than losing the badge I had worked so hard to get.

I had to get to her and I had to thank the men who helped me save her.

"We're sorry we got you all in the mess." Emmett said to Sam, Jared, and Seth.

"We knew the possible outcome when we signed on. It was the right thing to do and I stand by our decisions. All of them." Jared said with a smile.

"Jared's right. If we lose our jobs because we did what we had to do to save three innocent lives, then I don't know if the DEA is the right place for me after all." Seth agreed.

"I'll stand by you all in those interviews." Sam said.

"Thank you." The three of us said as we shook their hands before taking off towards the hospital we knew the girls were at.


	25. Chapter 24

**A/N: So I wasn't going to go this route with Bella's chapter but then someone asked to know what happened at the "gun fight" from her perspective so... It's not exactly a retelling of the events (you'll see what I mean), but it gives you some insight. **

**While the drama with Denali is somewhat over - the drama in the story is not. This was not the climax and now everything's going to be rainbows and butterflies...BUT there isn't going to be any lasting traumatic issues. Hope this answers some of the questions I got regarding the mental state of the girls. These girls are strong and while they won't just shrug off being held captive and at gun point, they aren't going to crawl into holes either. **

**Hope you enjoy! **

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24<strong>

It was on repeat in my mind. The feelings, the thoughts…everything was on a loop and I couldn't get it to stop and I couldn't pull myself away from it.

I tried to pull away from the memories. I tried to resurface but no matter what I did I kept getting dragged into them…

_The situation we found ourselves in was not part of our plan. Truth be told, nothing in the past six months had been part of our plan. I guess we never really had a plan from the beginning. When I met them our only goal was to leave our lives behind. And that was exactly what we did. We had been having fun and loving where we were, but then things changed. Everything changed. In a matter of just a few seconds, our lives went from uncomplicated to unbelievably complicated and dangerous._

_How had we gotten ourselves into such a mess?_

_How in the hell did we manage to get ourselves bound and gagged in a dark windowless room?_

_And most importantly how in the fucking hell were we going to get out of it?_

_Sitting there on the cold concrete floor, all I could see was the eyes of my two best friends; and even though we couldn't talk, I knew exactly what they were thinking and feeling._

_Without any way to tell time, we had no idea how long the Denali gang had been gone or how long we had until their return._

_I knew the odds were against us but I had to try and keep hope. I had to keep reminding myself that the three responsible for putting us in the path of the Denali gang were professionals and good at their jobs. I had to keep faith in them…in him. I knew he wouldn't leave me there. I just knew he would come for us. It just had to be before it was too late and before the Denalis returned to clean up after themselves._

_We had watched Demetri pull the duct tape and zip ties out of his pocked with wide eyes and knew it was in our best interest not to fight him but now I thought that might have been a mistake._

_Alice was severely injured but at least she was conscious again. She was lying down on her back with her head resting on Rose's legs, her arms tied in front of her and her ankles bound. _

_Her breathing was labored and I knew she had to have broken ribs. Every now and then she would flinch and Rose's tears would start anew, her fists forming with the need to try and soothe our hurt friend, but Demetri had tied her hands behind her back._

'_Can't have you trying to figure out a way to get of here.' Was what he had said. _

_It was the reason he had my hands tied above my head and secured to some sort of fixture that was anchored into the wall. _

_Alice was the only one who had the chance to work out of her restraints but she was in no condition to do so. She couldn't even reach her arms up to rip the tape off her mouth. _

_He'd beat the shit out of our friend and I had lost it. I had pissed him off and it was the reason he had ordered us to be tied up and gagged._

_My arms had just completely gone numb when a sudden noise from the other side of the door had all three of us shaking._

_They were back and it didn't sound like any of them were in good moods._

I jerked again trying to wake myself up from the nightmare because I knew what happened next. I knew the next scene but once again I was helpless to stop it from replaying in my mind. I was desperate to keep it from happening again. I didn't want to see the fear in their eyes. I didn't want to see the anger in his…

'_Isabella…' The sinister voice echoed in the room as he stepped through the now open door. I tried in vain to work my hands free before he got to me and pushed myself against the wall as far as possible when he reached his hand out towards my face, but before he came in contact with me his hand changed course and it was then I saw the shiny blade he was holding. _

_In the next second my arms dropped lifeless in front of me. The blood rushed into them for the first time in…well who the hell knew how long. The tingling sensation immediately hit them and was so intense that it was painful. Tears welled up in my eyes before spilling down my cheeks. _

_Rose jerked from her spot but couldn't move too much since Alice was still resting on her lap. _

'_Bring her.' Denali demanded to someone I couldn't see before standing up and without a second glance back my direction walked out of the room. I reached up to the tape on my mouth knowing that it was going to hurt like a bitch when it was torn so I wanted to do it before someone else could._

_I had worked the edges around my lips with my tongue as much as possible hoping to ease the pain of the tape ripping the first layer of skin off them._

_Rose shook her head 'no' quickly as soon as she figured out was I was doing but I wanted to tell them both something before I didn't have the chance._

_I grabbed the corner of the tape just as Felix walked into the room and he smirked at me when he realized what I was doing. He reached to stop my movements so instead of the careful removal I had hoped for, I just ripped._

'_Fuck!' I had screamed because that shit had hurt like nothing else I had ever felt. Instantly I could feel the warmth of blood and taste the distinctive metal flavor of it. _

_Felix laughed as he grabbed me off the floor and swung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. _

_I tilted my head up to try and find my friends only to see tears streaming from their eyes. It was possibly the only good bye I was going to get with them so as Felix carried me out of the room I had said the only thing that I could think of._

'_I love you both…' _

_Demetri stepped into my eye line then and the door was shut._

'_She's dripping blood dude.' Demetri had said as he followed Felix._

'_Dumb bitch ripped the tape off her mouth.' He said as he walked towards the office I had been in earlier._

'_It was better than one of you assholes doing it.' I mumbled causing both of them to laugh out loud._

'_Yeah you're probably right.' Felix laughed again as he knocked on the door of the office. I heard James tell them to enter and was not at all surprised to see Laurent and Victoria in there as well. _

'_Set her down in that chair.' Denali demanded. 'Tie her hands in front of her and leave her ankles tied too.'_

'_Yes sir.' Felix replied as he all but dropped me into the chair that I had sat in before and then took the piece of black plastic that Demetri was offering. _

_I started fighting him to keep my hands free and tried to reach for his gun that had become visible under his jacket. _

_The backhand across my right cheek only spurred my fight but in the end Felix was able to secure the tie around my wrists._

'_Now…I'm going to ask you a few questions. Each wrong answer is going to result in punishment.' Denali had sneered in my direction. _

'_Fuck you.' I hissed._

'_If you're lucky.' He said as he lowered his face inches away from my own. 'Now first question...the boys didn't show for our deal tonight at the club. This saddens me.'_

_I was thrilled to find out that little piece of information because it meant that they knew. They knew we were in trouble. They knew the cover had been blown. The smirk that would have appeared if my lips hadn't hurt so bad came through in my eyes and my attitude. _

'_That's not a question.' _

'_True, true…okay so how did they know not to show up?'_

'_I don't fucking know.' I seethed. _

'_Liar.' Victoria said from her post in the corner of the office. 'What clue did you leave them…'_

'_We didn't know we were found out until the desert.' I wanted nothing more than to strangle the bitch._

'_You surely had your suspicions though.' Laurent chimed in._

'_That is true Isabella. You were all very nervous when we first picked you up.'_

'_A known drug dealer, murder, and his dumbass goons were taking us to the fucking desert. Of course we were nervous.'_

_That earned me another backhand, that time from James._

'_I'm going to ask you again…what clue did you leave them and where?'_

'_And I'm going to tell you again…we didn't. The only things we left behind us were our cell phones and purses and that was on demand.'_

'_Boss…those weren't in that apartment…' Felix spoke up. 'We searched…'_

_This earned another internal smirk from me. The boys had been so far ahead of them that they made it to our apartment before Denali had. _

'_Did they know we were picking you up?' _

_Before I had a chance to decide whether to answer him or not he reached around my head and grabbed a hand full of my hair and yanked my head back._

'_The truth.' He spit out._

'_Yes.' I whimpered. _

'_Did they know where we were going?' He asked again gripping my hair tighter._

'_Obviously not or they would have shown up and you'd be dead.'_

'_Attitude Isabella.' He said then let go of my hair and stood back up out of my face._

'_I have a question for you.' I said_

'_You don't get to ask questions, bitch.' Victoria laughed but James smirked and motioned for me to ask it._

'_Was Michael the only leak?'_

'_That's a far too simple question Isabella…in fact I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping for something more entertaining. Something maybe more difficult to answer…yes Michael was the only one on the inside for me. I hadn't had a chance to get anyone established in LA. Although I think that's my next step. See I met Victoria through her uncle…you'll remember him as the cliché that stepped off the plane in the desert earlier. That's her uncle on her mom's side by the way. As soon as I met her and found out step-daddy dearest was the director of the DEA office in New York, I knew exactly what needed to be done. She personally couldn't breach the trust with Aro so she latched onto the first schmuck she could find – Newton. The rest is history you could say. It was perfect until you pinned him against us, using the knowledge that he was in love and blind…well played. Very impressed.'_

_He told me way more than I had asked. I just wanted to clear Edward's boss's name. _

_Denali was cocky and self assured that he had won. Part of me believed that he was right to be cocky but there was a part of me that refused to give up on Edward and Emmett and Jasper. _

'_We need to kill them and move on.' Victoria said as she pulled a weapon from her behind her back. 'Starting with this one.' She added as she aimed the weapon right at my head._

_James sighed in defeat knowing that she was right before turning his back to me._

_But it wasn't the sound of her gun that I heard next. It was an alarm and sudden chaos erupting in the small office that held five of them and one of me._

_And it was James's hand around my throat forcing me to look at him that caused me to finally realize what was happening._

They_ were there._

'_How the fuck did they find us?!' He roared as he ripped me out of the chair still holding my throat. 'How!?' He yelled again as he threw me against the opposite wall. _

_The sound of gunfire erupted around me as I laid on the floor against the wall where I had fallen._

'_Boss get back in the office!' I heard someone yell and then the sound of the office door slamming shut again before more gunfire but then it suddenly stopped._

'_Denali!' Emmett roared from somewhere. I wanted to yell out to them to let them know I was in the room but James was covering my mouth with his hand._

_With a small nod of his head Victoria and Laurent opened fire from inside the office aiming for anything on the other side hoping to hit someone. _

'_You're cornered asshole!' My eyes widened at the sound of his voice and the tears threatened to start again. _

_Denali glanced quickly at me and grinned knowingly. He had me and by the look in his eyes I knew exactly what he was planning to do with me. He knew they wouldn't shoot me. He knew he could use the relationships that had been formed to protect himself. _

_I was going to be his way out._

'_Stand up.' He gritted between a clenched jaw as he used a knife to cut the ties around my ankle. 'Go you two.' He added to Victoria and Laurent._

'_No.' I said because I absolutely refused to be his bargaining chip._

'_Get the fuck up right now.' He said as he held the knife to my throat forcing me to rise from the floor._

_As soon as I was up he dropped the knife and wrapped his left hand around my throat pushing his gun to the side of my head and falling in directly behind me._

'_Walk.' He demanded and pushed the gun to prove his point._

_The sheer panic in Edward's face when I stepped out of that office with a gun to my head told me what I was going to have to do. I was going to have to make the decision for him. _

'_Shoot him damn-it.' I growled as I tried to work my way free or at least free enough to allow one of them to get a clean shot but his grip on my throat only got tighter and no one made a move to try and take a shot. I was searching Edward's face for a signal…a sign telling me what to do but all I saw was fear and the knowledge that Denali was right and taking me as a shield had been the perfect idea._

_I pleaded again for someone to take a shot and within seconds, Victoria and Laurent were on the ground mere inches away from the obviously dead Demetri and Felix. _

_It took me less time to decide what to do than it did to blink and when he moved his gun to my shoulder I reacted._

_Remembering what my father had taught me, I headed butted him, attempting to break his nose. It didn't work, but his grip loosened enough on my throat that I wiggled free and grabbed for his gun._

_I was face to face with him and I could see the desperation. He knew if I dropped he was an open target and I knew it too. He wasn't going to let me going easily so there was only one option._

_If they weren't gonna take the shot and take me out of the equation then I would do it for them._

'_Fuck you asshole.' I whispered just as I got my finger on the trigger and instantly pulled it._

The pain of getting shot again hit me hard and it was enough to jerk me out of whatever hell I had been in.

"Bella!" Rose exclaimed from somewhere close. "Call the nurse Emmett." She said as her soft hands settled me back down.

"Where's Edward?" I asked, remembering suddenly that he had been there when the paramedics arrived but then he disappeared.

"He'll be back. You need to relax." She said.

"Alice…" I said suddenly remembering the state she was in the last time I saw her.

"She's fine too. Broken ribs, dislocated shoulder but fine. You're the one everyone was worried about…" She trailed off as a nurse came swooping into the hospital room.

"How's the pain Miss Swan?"

"Hurts."

"Okay let's give you some more morphine…" She said as she injected something into the IV in my arm. "There all better now. Glad to see you awake. You don't react well to anesthesia apparently. Been out now for a whole day after surgery." She rambled on but the drugs were setting in causing her to sound more like an adult from _Charlie Brown_ than a real human.

"Edward…" I mumbled before dropping back off into sleep.

It wasn't a peaceful sleep though.

I was jerked awake once more when the memory of getting shot ripped through me.

"Bells?"

His voice was thick with sleep and worry, but the gruffness of it was unmistakable.

"Dad?" I choked out.

"Yeah Bells." He sighed. "Your mom is here too. She and Phil just went to the cafeteria to get some coffee."

The next question was on the tip of my tongue when he answered it for me.

"Edward called us. Told us that you had been shot and that you were fine but that you were in the hospital. He told us we didn't need to come that you were fine and of course he was right. You're fine – just recuperating from the surgery. I told them you didn't react well going under for surgery but to remove the bullet…Jesus Christ Bella what the hell were you thinking?!"

He was in his 'I'm gonna act pissed off so you don't see my true emotions' phase.

"I'm sorry dad…but…had no choice…"

"You could have come home to me. I would have protected you all. Rosie and Ali too…" He said with a far off look in his eye. "They're good people Bells."

"How long have I been…" It felt like a lifetime to me.

"Only about two days." He chuckled at my astonished face. "According to Edward, they brought you in about 5:00 in the morning Friday and it's only Saturday night. You were out of surgery by 7:00 but you didn't come around again until late Friday night early Saturday morning. They gave you the morphine and then you passed out again."

"Oh." But then I started worrying about where Edward was exactly. "Where's Edward?"

"With your mom and Phil…" He said but then stopped as the room door opened quietly. "I'll just leave you two alone for a minute."

Edward replaced my dad in the seat next to the bed and I could tell he was raging a war with himself. He was relieved obviously but I could see the anger beginning to rise up as well.

"You fought him for his gun and got yourself shot?! What the hell were you thinking Bella?!" he shouted as he began to pace my room. "Why would you fight him for his gun? Why?"

"Because none of you were going to take the fucking shot or remove me from the equation! I had to do something or the asshole was going to take me fucking hostage – or take me at least long enough to get into a car and then who the fuck knows what would have happened to me. But I wasn't willing to risk it…apparently you were!"

He was mad at me for fighting James. He was mad at me for doing the only thing I could think of to protect myself. He thought James had been the one to shoot me. He was really going to be furious when he figured out what I _really_ was doing and what I successfully did.

"We had a tracking device on his SUV…we would have been able to follow you! Christ it was how we found you in the first fucking place!" He fumed as he pulled at his hair but then he suddenly stilled and turned on his heel to face me again. "What do you mean 'remove you from the equation?" His voice was suddenly calm and very controlled.

"All you would have had to do was shoot me in the leg and it would have dropped me and then his "shield" would have been gone…"

"Isabella...please tell me you didn't do it…"

"I can't."

"_YOU_ _SHOT_ _YOURSELF_!?" He roared and suddenly the room was filled with my father, my mother, Rose, and Emmett.

"Nobody else had the fucking balls to do it!" I yelled back as my heart rate monitor sky rocketed causing the nurse to then also join us.

"Alright everyone out." She started shooing my dumbstruck friends and family out of my room. "You too." She said as she pushed Edward out as well.


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N: Hey all! So real life sucker punched me and this is why this chapter is not only delayed A LOT but also on the shorter side. Dealing with real life drama made it hard to write about it - I found myself reading fluff and feel-good stories unable to get any words of my own down. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint and I'm hoping that I can get the next one out quicker.**

**We're bouncing back to Edward's POV for this one. **

**Enjoy!**

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25<strong>

"What the hell was she thinking?" I mumbled while I paced the hallway outside of Bella's room. I had tried to get back in after the nurse kicked us all out but Emmett was playing security guard and keeping me out.

"Until you calm your ass down and listen to what I've been trying to tell you, I'm not letting you back in." He said as he pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Edward…" Charlie finally spoke up from his seat against the wall. He hadn't spoken to me since I called him down from Washington, and rightfully so. I mean hell I was the reason his daughter was in the hospital with a gunshot wound…although technically speaking since she'd shot herself it was her fault.

But never mind whose fault it was, his little girl was in the hospital because she'd had a bullet in her hip, so he was mad and when I'd called him on our way to hospital to tell him what had happened, he'd called me every name under the sun and said he was hopping the first flight to LA and he'd deal with me when he arrived.

His way of dealing with me was a stiff right hook to the jaw; so when he finally said my name and without much malice I stopped pacing and looked to him.

"It's no use getting angry at her…she'll just get angry back – obviously. I'm mad too but Emmett makes a valid point – she did it so you wouldn't have to. She knew it was what needed to be done and we all know she's right. You can stand there and argue that you would have followed the vehicle if this Denali guy took her, but you know that was not the safest place for her. She knew this too. She knew if he got her out of that place she was probably dead. She's stubborn and shooting herself, no matter how stupid and dangerous, was her taking the control back from him. She did the right thing. And as mad as I am, I'm proud of her too. She showed more bravery than most men who get paid to take chances." He said with a pointed look.

"She could have killed herself." I sighed in defeat as I sat down next to him.

"Yes she could have, but she didn't." He said. "We can't dwell on what-if…she didn't and that's all that matters."

He was right and I knew it, but I thought I had lost her for a minute when she first hit the ground and then to find out that it was by her own hands just scared the shit out of me. I was mad at her for doing it, but it was more that I was mad at myself for putting her in the position where she had to actually do it.

"We're all mad at ourselves Ed." Emmett sighed seemingly picking up on my mood and emotions as he finally moved away from the door. "It never should have gotten as far as it did."

We all nodded but said nothing. It was another 10 or so minutes before Bella's mother suggested I go back in to Bella's room to apologize. I had hesitated afraid of what she might say to me, but in the end, my selfishness won out.

I needed to see her and remind myself that was really okay. Plus I still had a ton of questions I wanted answers to and I wanted them before the agents who replaced us on the case showed up to take the girls' statements.

After preparing myself for the onslaught of anger again, I slowly opened the door to her room but instead of anger I found silent tears. I was by her side in less than a heartbeat.

"Go away Edward." She said weakly but I didn't move one inch and instead grabbed a hold of her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry." The almost inaudible whisper left her lips.

"Oh sweetheart I'm sorry I acted the way I did it's just…" I said then paused with a heavy sigh trying to figure out how to proceed. "It's just you scared the hell out of me and I panicked and then when I found out you were the one that actually pulled the trigger. And my god…your hip Isabella…of all places…your hip…the bullet wedged in to the bone and cracked your hip bone. You were so close to…you could have killed yourself if you had been just an inch or two more one way – the other way you would have shot James instead…" I said quickly losing my calm again.

"I couldn't fight him any longer." She sighed. "I was losing the battle and if I tried to fight any more he would have been able to wrestle the gun back into his control. I just shot. I didn't really know where the gun was pointed – honestly it could have been aimed anywhere all I knew was that it wasn't at my head or pushed into my side. I realize it was stupid and I'm sorry I didn't think about how everyone would react…I just did what I thought was the best course of action…" She was rambling and her tears were threatening to start spilling again.

"I know…_we_ know Bella. We all understand but it doesn't mean we like it or that I didn't think I had lost what I've come to realize is the most important thing in my life." I said as I pressed my lips to hers earning a contented sigh from my angel.

"You said by hip bone is cracked…I haven't had a chance to talk to the doctor. The nurse said he was in surgery and would discuss things when he was out of that, but do you know what this means for me? What's the recovery?" She nervously asked but before I could answer her, the hospital room swung open with dramatic flair revealing an Internal Affairs officer and Emmett right behind him looking angry.

"I tried to stop him Edward…" Emmett said at the same time the guy I remembered being at the scene spoke up.

"Agent Cullen you cannot be speaking to Miss Swan at this time. We're conducting an investigation and you are prohibited from speaking to her until said investigation concludes…"

"And just who the hell do you think you are?" Bella interrupted him just as he'd done to Emmett.

"Miss Swan, my name is Bryce Williams and I am one of the agents who is investigating agents Cullen, McCarty, and Whitlock. I also have taken over the Denali case file while we work to tie up loose ends on it."

"That's Edward's case." She said confused. "And why are you investigating the men behind ending Denali?"

"Miss Swan, while Cullen and McCarty are suspended I can't discuss details with them present. Since you and Miss Brandon and Miss Hale are significant to the investigations, you will need to be read in. You will be forbidden to discuss details with…"

I watched Bella's eyes narrow at he spoke the word 'forbidden'.

"What the hell is going on, Edward? Emmett?" She interrupted Williams again and turned to Emmett and I with nothing but concern for us.

"Bella we did a lot of things against protocol and we caused some major issues so we're being investigated and are on suspension until the investigation ends and our fate is decided. Since we're suspended, the Denali case was transferred to another department. You girls will need to give statements regarding how we approached you, what was said, how we did things, and then also what went down between you and Denali." I explained while shooting daggers towards Agent Williams.

"If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to get started on your statement, Miss Swan." Williams pushed and judging by the purse of Bella's lips, I knew she didn't take too kindly to how things were going down.

"I'm suddenly not feeling up to anything. I think this will need to wait until I'm out of the hospital." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow daring Williams to question her.

Emmett snorted and left the room shaking his head.

"Bella you have to give it eventually." I sighed.

"And I will…_eventually_. I'm on morphine and I think it would be best to give this _statement_ with a clear mind."

"Miss Swan the sooner we get statements, the fresher the information is and the more likely you'll be able to recall details…"

"Listen here Agent _Whatever_…the _details_ will never fade. I'll be able to recall everything in perfect detail probably forever, including the faces of my friends when Denali pushed his gun into my temple and the smell of his breath when he promised to kill me and even how the cold steal of the knife he held to my throat felt. A couple more days aren't going to matter to your bogus-ass investigation. I'll tell you everything you want to know when _I'm_ ready to tell it."

There was definitely so much more I wanted, _needed_, to know about what had happened and somehow I would get all my answers. Whether she told me or if I had to find a way to listen in on their statements, I would get the information I was desperately seeking.

To give Williams credit, he did flinch with her tone and the fierceness in her eyes, but against him he actually tried again.

"Miss Swan, I really need to be able to get a statement from you today. If I don't get something from you the director is going to shit…"

"Okay fine…here's my statement for now. Fuck you. Leave my room and I'll make sure to get in contact with you when I'm ready to give you your precious details."

I was beaming at her as Williams sulked out of the room and before the door shut, I heard Rose tell him that he might as well call it a day.

"Bella…" I started to talk to her about what she had just done, but she interrupted me, the fierceness still very much present in her tone.

"Look Edward, I know I will have to cooperate with the investigations and I will but seriously? I'm still in the hospital recovering from a gunshot, Ali is still recovering too, and Denali is dead. He's not going anywhere so the investigation can wait and I'm certainly in no hurry to get you into trouble." She said and she continued her voice finally started returning to normal.

"We're already in so much trouble your statement will certainly not bring anymore down on us and I'm inclined to think you're right, they have bigger problems anyways. I mean hell the leak got away and they can't find him…" I said but trailed off when she ducked her head and frowned. "What?"

"Um…Newton, the leak, right? Yeah he's dead. They probably won't find him anytime soon." She mumbled.

"What do you mean he's dead?" I asked completely dumbfounded by this revelation.

"I sort of got him shot." She shrugged. "I had an opportunity to turn him against Denali and I did. Demetri shot him in the head. No idea what they did to the body though. But I can definitely tell you Newton's dead and Aro had no involvement." She said with a disgusted look on her face as she recalled a memory.

I could tell she was hoping I'd be happy with news and while I was, I really would have been happier if she had told Agent Williams that as I couldn't exactly go tell them this since I wasn't supposed to be discussing the cases with her.

"Bella, you really need to talk to Williams." I sighed.

"I know but I really want to just lay here and take more morphine. So do you know what the doctor's saying about me getting out of here, walking, and such?" She asked with such hope I was dreading having to tell her.

"You're looking at probably at least 3 more days in the hospital and then months of physical therapy before all is well again and even then you might find it hard to do some things. You're gonna be in pain for a while and the mobility of your hip will be very limited. A through-and-through would have been better but it got your bone by about half an inch." I sighed as the tears fell fresh from her eyes.

"Bells?" Rose interrupted sticking her head into the room.

"Yeah?" Bella sniffed.

"Ali wants to see you. Can I wheel her in?"

I had never been more grateful for Rose than I was in that moment. Bella instantly smiled and nodded quickly and as Rose wheeled Alice through the door of Bella's room, wearing her brace to keep her ribs and shoulder in place and showing nothing but concern for her friend, I knew that was my cue to leave them.

"I'm just going to grab some food with everyone." I said, kissing her forehead, and leaving her with her friends.

I grabbed Charlie, Renee, Phil, Emmett, and Jasper and we all headed to the cafeteria to grab some food. It was a quiet affair but I felt I had to share the little piece of information Bella bestowed upon me.

Emmett and Jasper were both thrilled with the news of Newton's death but were left with the same concern as I had – how do we tell the agents now in charge that we have this bit of information without letting on that Bella was the one who told us.

Charlie spoke up at that point and suggested he tell Williams that Bella confided in him with the information. It was plausible and we jumped at the opportunity to let Charlie help us.

He called Williams immediately and gave him the information and just like that Williams was off on the hunt for a body and no longer worrying about getting the statements which gave Emmett, Jasper, and I cause to relax a bit for a little bit longer.

But sitting at the table barely touching the food I had bought, I found out that Bella got her ability to read people from her father which shouldn't have surprised me, he's a cop after all. But his curiosity was a surprise.

He asked for all the details that the girls were sure to give to the DEA with statements and so between the three of us we regaled her parents and Phil with the details of how everything unfolded and how it came to be that we needed three untrained girls to help us nail a drug dealer.

And after an hour we finally headed back up to where the girls' rooms were. We could hear them still talking in Bella's room so we left them alone and stayed in the hallway.

"Think they'll ever tell us everything that happened?" Jasper sighed.

"No." I snorted knowing Bella left a ton of details out when she told me about Newton. I could see her calculating very carefully every word she told me.

"No they won't tell us, but I bet we can get copies of their statements or even listen in on their interviews." Emmett said with raised eyebrows and just like that I knew they were on the same page as I was with needing the details.

"If you do that and they don't know about it, you're all three gonna be missing the family jewels." Charlie laughed before he disappeared down the hall.

"I think I'll go find out if we can get Ali and Bella in the same room." Renee said and started walking away. "Come with me Phil." She said with a pointed look.

It was the first time the Jasper, Emmett, and I had been left alone since the whole thing happened.

"I need to call Carlisle and Esme." I said breaking the silence that had fallen between the three of us.

"The story of Denali's end was breaking news but details weren't released yet, obviously since most of the details are hiding within the minds of the three in there and us." Jasper said.

"Think they DEA has talked to Seth, Jared, and Sam yet?" Emmett asked as I pulled my cell phone out.

"No Seth would have texted me or something." I sighed as I pulled up the house number for my aunt and uncle. "I gotta make this call but when I'm done, do you three wanna go in and see what the girls will tell us? Williams is probably off our backs for the next 24 hours so if we want to talk to them, now is probably our best chance."

"Definitely." Jasper and Emmett both answered without hesitation.


	27. Chapter 26

**A/N: I'll be honest - I had trouble with this chapter. I've written it a few times with a few different story progressions, but nothing felt right. I wanted to get it out there though because I'm hoping to get this story wrapped up before the holidays (Thanksgiving is my goal but based on my current track record and the amount left in the story - this is VERY ambitious haha). **

**I'm also thinking of ending this in a place that would allow for a sequel, but not sure though as the sequel wouldn't immediately follow. Thoughts? **

**As for the ending of this chapter - I'll be curious to read any guesses you all have. ;-) **

**Thanks as always for reading and if you review, tons of thanks for those! **

**~Tiff**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26<strong>

Getting to see my girls was the best medicine to the pain radiating from my hip. And while our first few minutes together were spent laughing as Rose told us about Charlie punching Edward, the rest of the time we spent nervously discussing the DEA agent that needed our statements, the repercussions for the boys, and of course how we would go about telling the boys the information we knew they were going to ask us for.

If they weren't the ones taking our statements then we knew for sure they would want the information somehow. And while the idea of telling Edward how close James had been to killing me multiple times made me slightly nervous, the thought of reliving it all again for the first time with a total stranger in a cold room made me want to vomit.

"You know we have to tell them. We already left details out of something and not only did it almost kill us, we hurt them. I can't hurt Jazz again." Alice whispered.

"You two have more to tell than I…I…got…" Rose started but broke down crying as she sat on the edge of my bed.

"Rose honey…" I started but stopped when the door creaked open revealing three nervous but determined faces. "Well you three certainly don't waste time." I sighed.

"We need to know…" Jasper said.

"Why do you want to know?" Alice asked as she tried to get comfortable in her chair, winching in the process.

"The same reason you three would want to know what happened if the roles were reversed. We care for you deeply and we have to know what you went through so we can help you if, when, you need it." Edward said.

"And morbid curiosity." Emmett added.

"We talked about what we were going to tell you guys when you asked, because we knew you would." I sighed. "We're going to tell you everything."

"Really?" They all asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah really…but it's more selfishness than you would think. None of us want to relive it for the first time since being rescued with a stranger, someone who doesn't care about our emotional wellbeing, someone who only wants the details and won't give a flying rat's ass if we're breaking down." Rose said. "Although my story seems like a walk in the park compared to these two…"

"Rosalie…" Alice and I both said with a warning tone.

"I wasn't tortured, I wasn't beaten, I didn't witness someone shot in the head and have his brains on me…I sat on my ass in a dark room…"

"And still had a gun held to your head, still got pistol whipped, held me as I struggled to breath, and went through thinking Bella was dead…I was so out of it, I don't remember hearing the gunshot – I didn't have to go through thinking someone had killed Bella. You were completely aware of _everything_ that was going on…you and Bella both…"

"Please stop competing on who had the worse experience." Jasper all but pleaded with us. "You all three went through something serious. What I want to know is why you went out there with him…"

"We've already told you that part – in the hotel room before we left. We told you then we thought it was a test and if you tailed us he'd figure it out. We were right by the way." Rose said with a glare and the boys' eyebrows all shot up yet again and I had a feeling they'd be doing that a lot in the next hour or so.

"Yep…he was testing us. He had suspicions and that's why he told us to leave our cell phones so there wouldn't be GPS tracer available and then when he got confirmation that no one had followed the car out to the airstrip he confirmed that we had passed the test." Alice said.

"We were in the clear. He asked us to step out of the car and even introduced us to his supplier…" I said but of course was immediately cutoff by questions; about a billion of them firing off at once from all three of them.

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Rose said standing up and waving her arms. "One at a time…Jesus…"

"His supplier saw you?!" Emmett said frantically. We all nodded but didn't understand why they were all freaking out.

It wasn't until Edward pulled his hair and started mumbling that it clicked with me.

"…unbelievable…they're still in fucking danger…his god-damned supplier knows who they are…the news…fucking pictures everywhere…"

"We have to get you three protection detail. Immediately." Jasper said as he pulled his phone out.

"Wait!" Alice yelled and then flinched because of the pain. "If you call someone then they'll know we told you details about the case."

"We'll deal with it." Edward said then nodded to Jasper to make the call.

"We know who he is." Rose said and that got all three of them to immediately turn towards her. "His name is Antonio and he knew Victoria – when everything went down in the desert and his men pulled guns on us after Newton told them we were DEA he ordered his guy to take his gun off of Victoria, but no one else."

"Could you pick him out in a line up?" Emmett asked us and we all nodded.

I'd never forget that cliché of a drug dealer. The idiot was a walking movie character. And it was as I remembered as clear as day what he looked like did I remember what Denali had told me in the office.

"When you call him for the protective detail, tell him they need to search her known associates and family members for someone named Antonio…" Edward was already talking about tracking down this Antonio when I remembered.

"He's her uncle…on her mom's side." I said.

"How do you know that?" Emmett asked.

"Denali told me." I shrugged. "He clearly was super confident that he would be killing us."

"Holy shit." Jasper said as he finished dialing his phone and walked to the corner of the room.

"Williams is on his way with agents to guard the girls and to talk to us…all of us." Jasper said after hanging up his phone.

"We're going to have to give our statements now aren't we?" Rose asked.

"More than likely he'll bring the director with him this time and yes they'll want to know everything now. We'll fight as hard as we can to stay but we can't promise anything." Emmett said.

My parents and Phil came in a few minutes later and broke the awkward silence that had fallen over the room.

It was another 20 minutes until the door was shoved violently open and slammed into the wall. The man on the other side wasn't Agent Williams but he was as pissed as Agent Williams who filed in directly behind him.

"God-damn-it! You three are causing nothing but fucking headaches for me! I should arrest all three of you right now for interfering with an investigation." The man shouted while glaring towards Edward, Jasper, and Emmett.

I instantly gripped Edward's hand tighter and started worrying about them truly having to go to jail because we told them something we weren't supposed to.

The man, who I discovered was the director, went on ranting about things I couldn't understand but I knew intuitively that none of it was good news for any of us.

It wasn't until I heard the words 'keep them separated' that I freaked out and watched as my vitals spike causing the nurse to run into the room in a flurry.

"Alright, _again_, that's enough of this nonsense. I let it go longer than I should have since you're federal agents, but you're disturbing the other patients on this floor. Visiting hours are over so unless you're on guard duty or on the approved list, I going to have to ask you all to leave for the night. You can return in the morning after 9." Nurse Molly said as she came in and injected morphine into my IV without even asking me if I wanted it.

"I can assure you it is perfectly okay for us to stay past visiting hours." The director commented with his nose in the air.

"Like hell it is." Charlie spoke up but things we're beginning to fade quickly for me. "It's not even going to matter…she's passing out from the drugs. Alice is in tears and in pain and Rose hasn't left this place since they brought them all in. You can come back tomorrow…"

I was quickly losing my grip on reality and was struggling to stay awake to hear the rest of my father's speech, but when I felt warm lips against my ear my focus shifted quickly.

"Love?" Edward whispered in my ear.

"Hmmm…" I hummed lazily.

"I'll be here when you wake up. I promise you that."

"Love..you..."

The last thing I remember was hearing the sharp intake of air from right next to me.

Morphine was certainly a magically drug. I felt no pain and slept continuously and dreamless until 4am when the drug wore off and my hip started throbbing.

True to his word Edward was there when I woke up, but he was passed out on the couch against the wall and snoring. He also looked extremely uncomfortable with his neck bent in an awkward position and his legs hanging off the end.

I really wanted to let him sleep, but I needed to move and couldn't without help. I also wanted a drink of water, which I couldn't get by myself but I didn't want to alert the nurse that I was awake because then the guards and by default the asshole DEA agents would know I was awake. 4 in the morning or not, I had a feeling they'd do just about anything to get my statement.

So I tried to wake him up, but clearly the man slept like the dead. I had thought he would have jumped up when I whispered his name or when I followed that up with a whispered yell, but he didn't budge.

"Damn-it to hell…" I grumbled as I searched for something to throw at him. Unfortunately everything soft was something I needed – like pillows. It left me one thing and I had a feeling he wasn't going to be very happy with me.

My aim was dead on and I hit him in his gut with the Kleenex box.

"Edward." I whisper yelled again to get his attention after he jerked awake.

"Bella…what's wrong?" He asked frantically.

"Nothing. I just need water and need your help sitting up a little bit. My back is starting to hurt but I can't situate myself without massive pain. Plus I wanted to talk to you before the shit storm hits at 9:00 on the dot."

"It's 4 in the morning, love." He laughed as he stretched.

"Not my fault Nurse Molly drugged me so well I'm wide awake now." I shrugged. "But I can wait to talk until you actually wake up for real – what I can't wait for is water and the help moving." I smiled. He didn't respond instead opting to just grab my water pitcher and fill it and then come back and help me readjust my position on the bed.

"Thank you…you can go back to sleep if you want to." I said after I got comfortable.

"Oh no I'm wide awake now." He winked.

"Sorry." I sighed. "I know its super early and I'm sure you didn't exactly pass out the same time I did."

"Actually after Charlie kicked Director Anderson and Williams out everyone else pretty much followed suit and I laid down." He said but then hesitated like he wanted to say more but wasn't sure.

"What?" I asked.

"Well…do you remember, I mean you were pretty much out of it by that time but do you remember what you said to me before you passed out?"

I know I had thought something and then remembered hearing the sharp intake of breath at my ear alerting me somewhat that I had probably said it out loud, but until he nervously asked that question I hadn't been able to reconcile it with myself that I had actually said those three little words out loud.

"Drugged or not, I meant them Edward. If I had been sober I probably wouldn't have said them as I think it's insanely early in our relationship to have those kinds of feelings for someone I really don't know all that well, but I meant them. I _mean_ them."

"I love you too." He said as he kissed my still recovering lips. "Now about what you want to talk about…"

"It's about my statement."

"Figured that much." He laughed. "Tell them everything Bella. It's not possible for us to look any worse than we already do – no matter what you tell them."

"Okay but…I want to tell you first." I sighed and then began telling him everything that he didn't know.

No surprises when he would clench his jaw, cuss, pace the room, or pull his hair. I wasn't even surprised when he got mad at me.

I was surprised however when he all but collapsed at my bedside holding back tears and apologizing like he was the reason I was in that hospital bed recovering from a gunshot wound and dealing with a traumatic experience.

"Denali is to blame." I said and he was getting ready to argue with me on something, but the door opened slowly revealing Emmett, Rose, Alice, and Jasper.

"United front. It's almost 9." Rose shrugged as they all filed in.

Edward and I both nodded.

But it wasn't Director Anderson or Agent Williams that opened the door at 9:00, it was a man I had never seen before but instinctively knew.

"Director V…what are you doing…they'll have your head if they see you here." Edward said from the side of my bed.

"I couldn't very well let you and Seth go into this cluster fuck without your boss now could I?" Aro said to Edward and looked at me with a soft smile then turned his gaze towards the rest of the people in my room.

"Sir, have you been taken off suspension then?" Edward asked.

"Oh yes. They were able to find all the proof they needed and Victoria spoke to the cops telling them that I was ignorantly blind to her criminal side."

"Victoria's alive?" I asked with an unsteady voice.

"Shit…did they not know?" Aro asked the boys who all shook their heads.

"I thought…she looked dead…" Rose mumbled.

"Almost was. We weren't exactly concerned with her wellbeing with Bella laying on the ground and you two somewhere else in the building so she lost a lot of blood before EMT's arrived." Emmett replied. "She's recovering but already in custody and will be transferred to a prison infirmary as soon as her doctor clears her for travel."

"She's trying to cut a deal…" Aro sighed. "I called her mother but she's more than a little upset with her daughter at this moment and isn't even going to help her with a lawyer. Speaking of lawyers do you have one?"

"Why would we need…" Alice started but stopped when Edward waved his hand and started shaking his head.

"We're all covered. I called Carlisle and his lawyer is representing me. He's also assigned others in his office for Jazz, Em, and the others but the girls won't need one per my conversation with the law office."

"Good, good."

It was only a few minutes later when Agent Williams joined our party and finding Aro there shocked him to say the least.

"Director Volturi, while you've been cleared of all involvement with the circumstances revolving around Agent Newton, you haven't been cleared of having knowledge of Agents Cullen, Whitlock, and McCarty…"

Rose snorted effectively stopping his bullshit. He shot a glare towards her but otherwise didn't acknowledge her and continued speaking.

"Can we please just get this started?" He sighed realizing that he wasn't going to win a fight if he started yet another one.

"Yes." We all answered without anger or hesitation.

Pleasantly surprised with our changed attitudes he told us how it was all going to happen and that the boys and Rose were all to go to headquarters and give their statements there, while Alice and I would give ours from our hospital rooms since we hadn't been discharged yet.

After Edward told me again to tell them everything and not leave anything out, he kissed me and left with the others leaving Alice, Agent Williams, and I alone in my room.

"I have to interview you both separately."

"We know." Alice said as she slowly stood from her seat. "Who first?"

"Let me talk to Miss Swan first and then I'll be down to talk to you."

Alice nodded to him and sent me a worried glance before ducking out the door.

"Alright Williams where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning." He said as he set a tape recorder on my bed and opened a pad of paper for notes.

"Sure…while in New York City, the three of us heard Denali kill a man…"

"And you skipped town?"

"Of course we did. Rose convinced us that it would be safer for us to leave our lives behind in New York and start fresh using our real names somewhere else."

"Real names?"

"Good god did you not read our files at all before taking this case over?" I sighed and rolled me eyes before explaining absolutely everything to Anderson in detail from the moment we stepped foot in New York City until I shot myself with Denali's gun.

Telling him about the whole being held at gunpoint by a known murdered didn't throw me into a panic attack that I had fully expected it to. But telling him about sleeping with Edward put a sour taste in my mouth and at first I was going to leave it out even though Edward told me not to, but when Anderson called me out on obviously skipping something, I told him.

"So many protocols broken." He mumbled.

"And because of it one of the largest drug dealers is dead, as is the majority of his crew and you know the identity of his supplier. If not for Edward, Jasper, and Emmett not only would I be dead but so would Alice and Rose and James Denali would still be selling drugs. I know that what they did was unorthodox and frowned upon but damn-it to hell man…you all need to realize the end result was what was needed."

"The end result doesn't change the fact that they broke DEA protocol and a few laws." He said as he shut off the tape recorder and stood up. "Thank you for your time Miss Swan."

"This is bullshit and you know it."

"Yes I actually agree with that but I still have a job to do…as they did and they did it to the best of their ability. Unfortunately it could cost them said job." He said and reached for the door handle to leave, but stumbled back when it swung open unexpectedly.

"Sir we have a situation down at Miss Brandon's room." The still nameless guard from outside my door said quickly and ushered Williams out without even sparing a glance in my direction. My mouth gapping like a fish trying to form words to get them to explain to me what was wrong with my friend went unnoticed and the two men disappeared.

I had to know what the hell was going on but no one was there for me to send that way. Charlie, Renee, and Phil had all told Edward that they would be in later in the afternoon leaving time for the DEA to get my statement. Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Rose were all still down at headquarters.

No one that cared that I was quickly approaching panic attack levels was available.

_No time like the present to start physical therapy_, I thought to myself bitterly as I started trying to get myself out of the bed. I unhooked as many machines as I could but then I remembered the IV and the awesomely comfortably catheter.

I hit the nurse call button repeatedly until one appeared.

"Yes Miss Swan?" She asked pleasantly not taking stock of my expression.

"I don't care how you do it but you get me mobile and get me down to Alice's room immediately." I growled.

"Miss Brandon's not in danger Miss Swan please stay…"

"If you don't then I'm ripping everything out and doing it without your help." I said as I made movement to do just as I had threatened.

"Let me get you a wheelchair with an IV bag holder." She said then quickly disappeared returning only a few seconds later with the wheelchair. "Please let me help you get in…" She said as I started getting out of bed without assistance.

The process wasn't easy and wasn't painless. It involved a lot of cussing and then when I was finally in the chair, I realized that sitting was putting too much pressure on my hip and I had to pee like no other.

"Shit this hurts." I grumbled.

"It's the first time you've really put pressure on your wound. I assure you it's safe…we were going to start getting you moving tomorrow anyways to get you ready for going home. Let me put a pillow under you to soften the impact."

As soon as the pillow was under my ass and I was comfortable, I was propelling myself out of my room and down the hall, even the bathroom forgotten. The closer I got the louder the voices got.

"NO! I am not going with you. I am staying here and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!" I heard Alice's voice through the closed door. I had no sooner got said door when it opened revealing the other nameless guard.

"Let me in." I demanded. He nodded and stepped aside to let me pass as he exited.

Inside Alice's room was exactly who I figured I'd find after hearing Alice yell.

Mr. and Mrs. Brandon stood there in all of their glory. Designer from head to toe, jewels usually reserved for special occasions, and demanding their daughter return home with them.

"Now Mary Alice you know you…"

"BELLA!" Alice shouted ignoring and interrupting her mother.

"They said there was a situation in your room but no one would tell me what so I forced a nurse to make me mobile. Hurts like a bitch let me tell you that, but you and I gotta stick together since everyone else is giving their statements." I said smirking at her but it probably looked more like a grimace.

"You should be in bed still!" She said as she walked over to me as quickly as her bumps and bruises would allow.

"Eh…I had to make sure you were okay. I see now that it's just your DNA donors trying to make you do something against your will."

I heard the scoff of annoyance from her mother and the gruff clearing of the throat from her father.

"I know you…you're one of little sluts that's convinced Mary Alice not to come home where she belongs and are keeping her in this life of crime and white-trash hell." Her mother said pointing her perfectly manicured finger in my face.

"Now wait just a minute here…" I said as I pushed myself out of my wheelchair and put all my weight on my good leg. "Listen here you pretentious, tasteless, tacky piece of overpriced shit…your daughter is recovering from something serious and even if she was going to go back to Arizona with you, she couldn't do it right now. She's well of age and mentally sound so she is very capable of making her own decision. Neither Rose nor I are keeping her from you. _You're_ keeping her from you. If you were my parents, I wouldn't want anything to do with you either. She's perfectly happy where she is and…" I was hot and would have kept with my rant except I was interrupted by a very furious looking DEA agent.


End file.
